STEWA£?!T,  .£, 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY 

LIBRARY 


The  Glenn  Negley  Collection 
of  Utopian  Literature 


Jacob  A,    Kumpf 
1538  Granville  Avenue 
Los  Angeles,  Calif.   90025 


THE   WORLD 
IN  1931 


By 

STEWART  E.  BRUCE 


F.  L.  SEARL  &  CO., 

110  West  34th  St., 

NEW  YORK 

1921 


Copyright,  1921 

BY 

STEWAET  E.  BRUCE 


VjTC  • 


DEDICATION 

THIS  BOOK  IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED  TO 

THE  SEVERANCE  CLUB 

OF  LOS  ANGELES,  IN  APPRECIATION  OF  THE 

DEVOTION  OF  ITS  MEMBERS  TO  THE  CAUSE 

OF  HUMAN  PROGRESS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2010  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/worldin193100bruc 


THE   WORLD   m    1931 


CHAPTER  I 

Ox  account  of  indifferent  health,  my  physician 
ordered  me  to  take  an  extended  sea  voyage.  This 
peremptory  command  caused  me  some  moments 
of  perplexment.  Had  this  celebrated  medical 
man  more  thought  for  his  own  relief  than  for 
mine?  Was  he  bent  on  getting  rid  of  a  "chronic 
nuisance",  one  who  could  be  relieved  neither  by 
the  gentle  art  of  cajolery  nor  by  that  now  almost 
lost  art  of  druggery? 

My  physician  was  what  might  be  termed  "popu- 
lar". He  was  pre-eminently  successful  in  that  he 
always  had  a  waiting  list — one  to  be  envied  by 
those  of  his  craft  or  more  strictly  speaking  "pro- 
fession". The  daily  aggregation  in  his  waiting- 
room  consisted  largely  of  the  most  profitable  of 
all  patients  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  exact- 
ing and  troublesome — the  well  ones;  for  it  ever 
is  that  Fear  and  Fancy  are  the  twin  branches 
upon  which  the  doctor's  golden  dollars  grow. 

Let  this  be  as  it  may,  my  physician's  fees  were 
as  large  as  his  conscience  would  dictate  and  his 
conscience  was  most  generous  if  not  elastic.  Of 
course,  he  rendered  some  service  to  society  with- 
out compensation — "For  charity",  as  he  observed. 

In  a  moment  of  callous  indifference  for  the  feel- 
ings and  sensibilities  of  another,  I  ventured  to 
ask  the  doctor  how  he  could  reconcile  some  of 
his  high  fees. 

5 


6  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

''That,  my  dear  sir,"  he  replied,  "should  be 
plain  to  any  man  of  understanding.  Smith  is  in 
poverty  and  I  cut  out  his  appendix  for  nothing. 
Morgan  is  rich  and  I  remove  the  wart  from  the 
end  of  his  nose  and  charge  him  a  thousand  or 
two.  Thus,  you  see,  I  balance  the  scales  between 
poverty  and  riches." 

"But,  Doctor,"  I  rejoined,  "how  do  you  claim 
you  performed  a  charitable  act  for  Smith,  when 
you  compel  Morgan  to  pay  for  both  Smith  and 
Morgan?" 

The  sudden  entry  of  the  doctor's  wife  in  the 
adjoining  room  prevented  an  answer  to  my  ques- 
tion. She  evidently  was  in  some  distress  and 
called  out  to  know  the  location  of  a  certain  bottle 
of  indigestion  tablets.  The  doctor  with  alacrity 
left  my  presence,  whether  for  the  purpose  of 
promptly  serving  his  wife  or  of  avoiding  my 
question,  I  am  today,  after  a  lapse  of  more  than 
ten  years,  still  unable  to  venture  even  a  guess. 

"My  dear,"  said  the  husband  in  subdued  tones 
when  he  reached  his  wife's  side,  "when  will  you 
ever  learn  that  drugs  are  not  the  proper  treat- 
ment for  indigestion?  Have  I  not  told  you  re- 
peatedly in  case  of  such  an  attack  as  this  to  drink 
a  pint  of  hot  water?"  The  wife  disappeared  as 
suddenly  as  she  had  entered  and  again  I  was  face 
to  face  with  my  medical  judge  and  executioner. 

In  my  case  drugs  had  failed;  an  operation,  by 
no  stretch  of  the  imagination,  was  to  be  thought 
of;  and  it  must  be  said,  in  addition,  that  my  doctor 
did  not  need  to  perform  unnecessary  operations 
for  the  purpose  of  revenue.  His  abundant  busi- 
ness removed  that  contingency. 


THE   WOELD   IN    1931  7 

As  a  last  resort,  a  prolonged  sea  excursion  was 
decided  upon  and  that  with  as  much  indifference 
as  though  he  had  prescribed  a  dose  of  calomel 
at  an  expense  to  me  of  but  a  shilling. 

Now,  there  is  a  certain  "sacredness"  about  a 
doctor's  order.  No  matter  how  often  your  physi- 
cian renders  edicts,  and  though  religiously  carried 
out  fail  of  their  purpose,  you  feel  that  to  disobey  at 
any  time  would  be  almost  a  sacrilege.  The  regard 
for  the  doctor,  where  there  is  regard,  is  almost 
religious.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  a 
form  of  religion — a  species  of  worship.  Like  the 
purveyors  of  religion,  he  represents  the  myste- 
rious—the unknown — the  unprovable — and,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  the  infallible. 

In  the  economy  of  things  this  all  may  serve  a 
purpose  and  who  would  deny  consolation  to  the 
weary  pilgrim  if  he  or  she  should  find  that  con- 
solation in  the  doctor— even  to  the  personal 
neglect  of  minister  or  priest? 

But  I  had  now  reached  that  stage,  or  that 
" plane"  if  you  will,  when  my  reverence  for  the 
doctor,  as  a  doctor,  was  at  a  pretty  low  ebb.  I 
had  reached  this  condition  of  mind  even  in  the 
face  of  the  fact  that  medical  science  claimed,  as 
one  proof  of  its  usefulness,  that  it  has  succeeded 
in  lengthening  Man's  span  of  life;  but  in  truth 
it  has  accomplished  this  only  by  denying  and  with- 
holding from  us  nearly  everything  that  makes  life 
worth  living. 

In  this  attitude  I  do  not  wish  to  be  misunder- 
stood. I  admit  the  doctor  has  at  heart  the  best 
interests  of  his  patient.  I  know  that  at  all  times 
he  sincerely  believes  he  can  do  as  much  for  a 


8  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

suffering  mortal  as  any  other  doctor  with  whom 
he  competes  and,  furthermore,  I  am  convinced 
that  he  has  and  does  and  will  continue  to  get  up 
the  coldest  night  of  a  cold  winter  and  respond 
to  a  call  even  if  he  is  certain  in  advance  that  he 
can  do  nothing  for  the  sufferer;  and  that  he  will 
continue,  God  willing,  to  minister  "charity"  by 
making  Morgan,  the  millionaire,  pay  the  medical 
dues  of  Peter,  the  penniless. 

So,  through  some  ill  conceit,  I  almost  had  lost 
faith  in  the  power  of  my  doctor,  or  of  any  other 
doctor,  or  any  combination  of  doctors,  to  success- 
fully minister  either  to  my  ills  or  to  my  idiosny- 
crasies. 

But  a  suggested  sea  voyage  was  something  new, 
had  all  the  elements  of  an  inspiration — a  happy, 
scientific,  medical  thought  or  in  my  case,  more 
strictly  speaking, — an  after-thought.  At  last  the 
doctor  had  gotten  down  to  practical  business — 
something  I  could  understand  and  grasp,  take 
advantage  of  and,  as  the  doctor  knew,  could  pay 
for. 

*  *  #  #  #  *  * 

It  might  be  well  before  advancing  with  this 
narrative  to  have  a  word  to  say  regarding  the 
significance  of  the  phrase  I  just  made  use  of — 
"could  pay  for". 

I  chanced  to  be  one  of  those  fortunates  who 
could  pay  for  a  ninety  days'  sea  sail — either  for 
health  or  pleasure,  or  for  both.  That,  no  doubt, 
was  one  of  the  reasons  why,  in  his  rare  judgment, 
my  physician  prescribed  a  sea  voyage.  Had  I 
been  less  rich,  in  the  exercise  of  his  power  of 
discrimination  and  in  obedience    to    those    laws 


THE   WORLD   IN   1931  9 

which  govern  differential  diagnosis  and  treatment, 
he  would  have  recommended  sea  salt  baths  at 
home — always  provided  I  would  be  the  happy  pos- 
sessor of  a  home  and  a  bath. 

The  ability  "to  pay"  for  a  thing  or  the  in- 
ability "to  pay"  for  a  thing  is  like  the  difference 
between  the  North  and  South  Poles — all  the  dif- 
ference in  the  world.  It  is  the  difference  between 
a  salt  bath  at  home  and  a  dip  in  the  far  off  ocean 
— between  the  public  and  private  ward — between 
walking  and  riding — between  being  buried  in  a 
mausoleum  ornate  with  marble  angels  and  being 
consigned  to  a  Potter's  Field.  Of  course,  those 
who  take  salt  water  baths  at  home  never  may  be 
drowned  in  the  ocean,  and  those  who  walk  may 
become  more  healthy  than  those  who  ride  but, 
nevertheless,  we  must  admit  that  it  is  a  case  of 
the  one  having  and  the  other  having  not — as  I 
repeat,  "all  the  difference  in  the  world". 

But,  I  had  the  means  to  take  the  ocean  voyage. 
I  belonged  to  the  class  who  had.  According  to 
accepted  belief  prevailing  at  the  time  of  which  I 
write,  society  owed  me  a  certain  amount  of  dol- 
lars, which  is  to  say — a  certain  amount  of  service 
to  be  paid  at  my  demand  and  command.  All  the 
courts  in  the  land,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest 
if  needs  be,  would  confirm  the  legitimacy  of  my 
claims  on  society  and  would  frown  sternly  on  any 
contention  to  the  contrary  as  being  an  assault  on 
sacred  rights. 

My  claim  on  society,  therefore,  was  legitimate 
for  the  reason  that  it  was  legal.  I  had  not  robbed 
anyone.  I  played  the  business  game  according 
to  accepted  rules.     I  did  not  use  marked  cards 


10  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

nor  did  I  stack  them ;  the  most  I  could  be  accused 
of  is  that  I  did  not  "show  my  hand"  either  to 
my  patrons  or  to  my  competitors. 

The  fact  is,  when  I  entered  the  world  I  arrived 
naked.  I  inherited  nothing  from  my  parents  but 
their  good  name  and  example.  I  embarked  in  busi- 
ness and  now  at  middle  life,  retired,  I  owe  my 
fellow  human  beings  nothing  although  during  my 
lifetime,  through  their  labor,  I  have  been  supplied 
bountifully  with  clothing,  food  and  shelter. 

But  the  public  or  society  still  remains  my 
debtor  to  the  extent  of  thousands — which  all 
means  that  society  will  be  at  my  beck  and  call  for 
the  rest  of  my  natural  life  and  will  be  compelled 
to  serve  my  heirs  after  my  death. 

The  year  1921  will  remain  ever  indelibly 
stamped  on  my  memory.  It  is  ten  long  years 
since  the  April  of  that  year  when  I  set  sail  from 
California's  golden  shores  in  quest  of  health — 
but  it  now  seems  like  a  century.  Indeed,  if  we 
measure  in  terms  of  change  and  progress  no  ten 
centuries  in  all  the  history  of  mankind  have 
equaled  these  ten  years. 

Fortunate  of  all  the  human  beings  who  ever 
trod  the  earth  were  those  who  witnessed  the  un- 
folding of  the  marvels  of  these  years — but  fate 
denied  me  even  a  glimpse  of  the  panorama  of 
events,  marvelously  lowered  the  curtain  while  the 
world  stage  was  being  set  and,  after  a  pause  of 
ten  years,  raised  it  again  revealing  to  my  startled 
eyes  a  new  world,  the  majesty  and  splendor  of 
which  was  but  the  fitful  dream  of  those  seers 
whose  hearts  alone  reflected  the  glory  of  the 
heavens. 


THE   WORLD    IN    1931  11 

Later  on,  in  the  proper  place,  I  shall  attempt 
to  portray  the  conditions  that  obtained  generally 
throughout  the  world  during  the  year  1921.  I 
deem  this  necessary  for  the  benefit  of  the  younger 
generation— particularly  those  in  their  earlier 
'teens  who  may  have  but  a  faint  recollection  of 
those  evil  days  and,  therefore,  may  not  fully 
appreciate  the  new  age  that  ten  years  has  ushered 
in.  Even  the  older  portion  of  humanity  is  prone 
to  forget  and  soon  begins  to  think  that  it  has 
always  been  thus.  A  few  weeks  of  warmth  makes 
us  forget  the  Arctic  cold;  the  eternal  day  soon 
obliterates  from  the  memory  of  the  Northmen  the 
eternal  night.  Pain  suffered  is  soon  forgotten  in 
the  realm  of  perfect  health. 

But  for  the  present  I  will  content  myself  with 
narrating  two  or  three  trivial  incidents — incidents 
which  in  1921  and  previously  at  least  were  both 
common  and  deemed  trivial,  but  which  now  in  1931 
are  considered  a  state  of  barbarism— barbarism 

now  happily  of  the  past. 

******* 

I  made  all  arrangements  for  my  ocean  voyage, 
selecting  a  slow  going  steamer  destined  for  an 
Asiatic  port.  This  formality  having  been  dis- 
posed of,  I  took  advantage  of  some  spare  moments 
to  wander  into  one  of    Los    Angeles'    beautiful 

parks. 

The  day  was  typical  of  California— sunshine 
and  singing  birds— flowers  everywhere  in  profu- 
sion outrivaling  the  rainbow  in  splendor—  per- 
fume in  the  air— green  and  gold  encircled  and 
arched  by  the  blue  heavens.  Nature  at  its  best 
and  how  good! 


12  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

1  i  Surely, ' '  said  I  in  thought,  ' '  there  is  no  place 
for  unhappiness  in  this  garden  of  Eden  for  is 
it  not  the  land  of  the  Husbandman?  To  his 
gentlest  caress  a  hundredfold  response  is  his  re- 
ward. Today  is  the  planting — tomorrow  the  reap- 
ing. The  land  of  oil  and  wine  and  milk  and  honey. 
Nature's  garden — a  fairyland  of  fancy — God's 
most  resplendent  and  fruitful  gift  to  man.  Surely, 
in  this  land  there  should  be  no  place  for  weeping 
save  for  joy  or  friends  departed." 

I  chanced  to  pass  through  an  obscure  portion 
of  the  park  and  there  sat  on  a  bench  two  people 
— a  man  and  a  woman.  The  woman  appeared  in 
great  distress,  although  the  deepest  pain  was 
portrayed  on  the  countenance  of  her  companion. 
I  had  a  moment  to  observe  them  before  they  were 
conscious  of  my  approach.  On  seeing  me,  the 
man  removed  his  hand  from  that  of  the  woman 
and  suddenly  sat  erect.  My  path  led  within  an 
arm's  length  and  retreat  for  me  was  out  of  the 
question.  In  passing  I  could  not  resist  an  offer 
of  sympathetic  assistance  even  though  such  an 
offer  might  be  spurned  as  an  intrusion. 

"You  seem  in  great  trouble  or  distress,"  I  said. 
"Could  I  be  of  assistance!" 

* '  Thank  you, ' '  said  the  man  sullenly ;  then  with 
some  degree  of  resignation:  "Our  trouble  is 
great,  but  we  can  bear  it.  We  have  before  and 
I  suppose  we  will  have  to  many  times  again." 

"My  friend,  I  think  I  understand — you  have 
had  bad  news." 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  "news  of  the  death  of  my 
wife's  father.  But  there  are  worse  things  to  be 
endured  than  death!" 


THE   WORLD    IN    1931  13 

I  managed  to  get  his  story.  It  was  a  tragedy, 
but  one  so  common  in  the  days  of  which  I  write 
that  it  received  but  passing  notice  even  from  those 
whose  sympathies  were  what  might  be  termed 
acute.  Custom  is  a  strange  thing.  It  seems  to 
deaden  us  alike  to  the  sight  of  distress  and  the 
manifestations  of  happiness.  The  thunders  of  the 
Niagara  oft  repeated  fall  on  deaf  ears;  and  how 
few  of  us  see  the  stars ! 

When  you  have  heard  this  man's  story,  simple 
though  it  be,  with  but  a  slight  variation  you  will 
have  had  but  faintly  portrayed  the  sad  experience 
of  millions  in  America  and  untold  millions 
throughout  the  world — the  innocent  and  helpless 
victims  of  an  economic  and  industrial  system  which 
sentenced  millions  to  Poverty  and  untold  millions 
to  the  ever-present  fear  of  that  same  hideous  mon- 
ster— a  system  which  arrayed  class  against  class 
and  brother  against  brother.  In  those  days  of 
1921,  it  seemed  as  though  society  were  in  the  coils 
of  a  giant  demon  which  was  crushing  out  the  lives 
of  the  multitude  without  mercy.  And  those  who 
fortunately  escaped  on  a  yesterday  were  almost 
certain  to  be  the  victims  of  the  day  following. 

In  the  few  hundred  years  since  so-called  Chris- 
tian civilization  slowly  emerged  from  barbarism, 
a  terrible  machine  had  been  constructed  by  which 
skillful  and  cunning  hands  had  succeeded  in  tying 
the  multitude  hand  and  foot,  Gulliver-like,  by 
seen  and  unseen  strands,  rendering  the  people  in 
many  instances  as  helpless  as  the  conscript  armies 
of  olden  times.  Even  those  who  forged  this  ter- 
rible economic  and  industrial  machine  and  used  it 
for  their  self-aggrandizement  and  power  were  not 


14  THE    WOKLD    IN   1931 

immune  from  the  enslaving  forces  that  they  them- 
selves helped  to  create  and  perpetuate.  It  fre- 
quently occurred  that  the  enslavers  of  one  decade 
were  the  enslaved  of  the  next. 

Five  years  previous  to  the  time  of  which  I 
write  this  man  and  woman  were  married  in  an 
Eastern  State.  They  decided  to  begin  life  in  Cali- 
fornia. The  husband  obtained  a  position  on  ar- 
rival and  soon  he  was  beginning  to  "get  ahead". 
All  went  well  until  the  Government  took  him  from 
his  work  and  sent  him  to  an  army  camp. 

"When  the  armistice  was  signed,  he  was  permit- 
ted to  return  home,  but  found  his  position  taken 
by  another.  After  weeks  of  enforced  idleness  he 
obtained  work  on  a  railroad  but,  just  as  he  was 
getting  even  with  the  world  again,  owing  to  the 
prevailing  business  depression  he,  with  several 
thousand  others,  was  laid  off.  The  depression 
being  general,  work  was  impossible  to  find.  The 
little  money  he  had  saved  soon  was  exhausted. 
Although  almost  in  want,  they  still  were  unbroken 
in  spirit.  The  future  was  before  them.  Their 
friends  in  the  East  did  not  know  of  their  financial 
straits,  therefore  their  pride  was  not  impaired. 

Just  as  their  position  reached  its  worst  phase 
they  received  a  telegram  stating  that  the  wife's 
father  was  at  the  point  of  death  and  requesting 
her  to  come  home  without  delay.  What  was  to  be 
done  1  Heretofore,  they  had  been  able  to  keep  the 
secret  of  their  poverty,  but  now  it  must  be  re- 
vealed. 

They  quickly  decided  to  swallow  their  pride  and 
wire  their  relatives  for  money  to  pay  the  wife's 
fare  East.    But  the  East  also  had  a  secret  which 


THE    WORLD    IN   1931  15 

it  had  kept  and  which  now  had  to  be  revealed. 
The  answering  telegram  proved  to  be  the  direct 
cause  of  the  outburst  of  grief  that  I  have  just 
described : 

"Father  died  today.     Impossible    to    send 

money.    Boys  out  of  work.    Scarcely  money 

sufficient  for  funeral.    Mother." 

Consulting  my  note-book,  I  find  that  this  inter- 
view in  the  park  took  place  more  than  ten  long 
years  ago — to  be  exact,  on  April  20,  1921.  On 
that  day  six  million  able-bodied  men  in  America 
were  consigned  to  enforced  idleness — each  repre- 
senting a  separate  and  distinct  tragedy — tragedies 
the  remembrance  of  which  today  makes  even 
strong  men  shudder  and  so-called  statesmen  of 
that  day,  who  are  yet  living,  blush  for  shame. 

Society  at  that  time  could  be  represented  best 
by  comparing  it  to  a  great  body  of  water,  in- 
habited by  human  beings  instead  of  fish.  One 
species  preyed  on  and  destroyed  the  other.  At 
times  the  waves  would  dash  up  on  the  shore 
momentarily  and  leave  a  number  of  the  species  on 
the  burning  sands  to  die  for  want  of  their  native 
element.  But  at  regular  intervals  of  five  to  seven 
years  the  great  body  of  the  water  would  myste- 
riously recede  and  millions  of  mortals  would  be 
left  stranded  on  the  bare  shore  without  subsist- 
ence^— thousands  dying  before  the  waters  would 
rise  again  to  give  them  succor.  This  periodic 
phenomenon  was  known  as  "hard  times". 

The  strangest  part  of  these  regular  phenomena 
lay  in  the  fact  that  when  the  waters  receded,  leav- 
ing thousands  to  die  and  millions  to  suffer  on  the 


16  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

barren  sandy  shore,  there  was  more  water  than  at 
other  periods ;  bnt  it  seemed  to  sink  mysteriously 
into  subterranean  caverns  where,  until  released 
by  some  mysterious  power,  the  waters  could  not 
rise  again  and  no  relief  could  come.  This  was 
attributed  by  some  to  what  was  called  "  over- 
production". In  other  words,  when  water  was 
plentiful  more  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  ocean  suf- 
fered from  periodical  thirst  than  when  it  was 
limited  in  volume.  There  were  those  also  who 
contended  that  the  only  legitimate  cause  for  thirst 
could  be  the  shortage  of  water,  but  economists  of 
those  days  made  merry  at  such  a  foolish  conten- 
tion— claiming  that  as  this  condition  had  always 
existed  it  was  foolish  to  think  it  ever  could  be 
remedied. 

So,  this  man  and  woman  were  like  fish  out  of 
water,  lying  helpless  on  the  dry  sands  with  no 
relief  in  sight  until  the  waters  of  "prosperity" 
would  again  arise.  Not  only  these  two  but  mil- 
lions of  other  human  beings  in  America  were  as 
hopelessly  stranded,  kept  alive  only  by  the  dews 
of  charity  and  not  by  their  native  element,  which 
element  was  everywhere  in  sight  but  not  within 
reach.  Thus  we  beheld  the  periodic  spectacle  of 
millions  of  human  beings  writhing  helplessly  on 
the  dry  sands  of  the  shore  of  an  ever-rising  and 
ever-lowering  economic  sea. 

The  mysteries  of  this  cruel  and  treacherous 
economic  sea  with  its  tides  and  subterranean 
forces  we  must  needs  examine  later  but,  for  the 
present,  I  ask  my  reader  to  remember  the  "in- 
cident" just  described,  namely,  the  unhappy  con- 
dition of  this  unfortunate  man  and  woman. 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  17 

After  hearing  their  sad  story,  I  left  the  park 
in  less  buoyant  spirits  than  when  I  entered.  I 
made  up  my  mind  that  nature  at  its  best  was  no 
guaranty  against  either  poverty  or  injustice. 

******* 

On  my  way  home  I  chanced  to  pass  another  park 
in  which  thousands  of  people  were  congregated. 
An  orator  was  haranguing  the  crowd  which  proved 
to  be  one  of  California's  popular  institutions, 
namely,  a  state  picnic.  He  proved  to  be  the  pres- 
ident of  a  Pasadena  bank.  He  was  smug,  con- 
descending, well-fed  and  well-groomed — looking 
every  inch  the  Western  or  mid- Western  prosper- 
ous banker  type.  It  may  be  said  that  he  repre- 
sented that  class  of  gentry  which  publicly  and 
privately  mixed  religion  with  business  and  which 
on  public  occasions  did  the  mixing  with  the  butt 
end  of  an  American  flagpole.  The  resulting  mix- 
ture when  devoid  of  its  coloring  is  usually  like  the 
Chinaman's  stew  of  rabbit  and  elephant  in  equal 
parts — one  rabbit  to  one  elephant. 

However,  our  banker  dwelt  on  the  glories  of 
the  American  Constitution,  our  wonderful  country 
in  which  every  honest  and  industrious  man  and 
woman  could  be  sure  of  the  rewards  which  come 
from  honesty  and  industry ;  and  he  took  occasion 
to  warn  his  hearers  against  false  economic  doc- 
trines which  were  turning  class  against  class,  even 
brother  against  brother.  He  exclaimed  with  evi- 
dence of  enthusiasm  and  sincerity:  "The  Lord 
has  brought  our  paths  into  pleasant  places  and 
let  us  not  slap  Providence  in  the  face  by  our  dis- 
satisfaction and  unkind  criticisms." 

At  the  conclusion  of  his    speech,    the    banker 

2— Dec-21 


18  THE    WOKLD    IN   1931 

stepped  into  his  luxurious  limousine  and  was 
whisked  away  to  "  another  important  appoint- 
ment". That  other  appointment  was  a  dinner 
party  of  twenty  plates  at  an  exclusive  club,  which 
dinner,  no  doubt,  cost  a  poor  man's  ransom. 

Surely,  you  will  admit,  this  banker  would  be 
hard  to  please  were  he  dissatisfied  with  conditions 
which  brought  his  path  into  such  pleasant  places. 
A  private  room  in  an  exclusive  club — rare  wines 
— food  fit  for  the  gods — beautiful,  bejeweled 
women — men  of  your  choosing — subservient  wait- 
ers at  your  elbow — surely  these  are  more  pleasing 
to  contemplate  than  the  plight  of  the  miner  in  a 
damp  hole  three  thousand  feet  below  daylight  or 
that  of  the  railroad  hand,  especially  one  out  of 
work  with  a  dependent  wife  and  without  even  the 
prospect  of  a  meal  in  sight. 

So,  in  your  mind's  eye,  look  in  on  these  two 
scenes  which  were  typical  under  the  old  order  of 
things.  Such  sights  will  even  now  bring  to  you 
both  sorrow  and  gladness — sorrow  for  the  victims 
of  those  evil  days  not  so  far  distant  in  the  past 
and  gladness  for  the  new  day  that  has  dawned. 

Look  in  on  the  gay  feasters  in  the  luxurious 
room  of  the  Pasadena  Club;  then  turn  your  eyes 
to  the  little  cottage  in  the  outer  fields  of  a  great 
city — an  almost  foodless  table,  a  grief-stricken 
woman  and  a  brave,  honest,  industrious  and  God- 
fearing man  standing  with  outstretched  arms  not 
for  alms  but  for  the  opportunity  to  labor  and 
produce  so  that  he  and  those  whom  he  loved  better 
than  his  own  life  might  be  fed,  clothed  and  shel- 
tered. 

Arriving  home  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day, 


THE   WORLD    IN   1931  19 

I  found  awaiting  me  a  man  whom  I  had  not  seen 
for  years.  I  still  retained  a  lively  recollection  of 
him. 

Although  aged  considerably  since  I  last  saw 
him,  his  manner  and  spirit  seemed  more  buoyantly 
youthful  than  in  the  olden  days.  His  step  ex- 
pressed confidence,  his  eyes  satisfaction  and  his 
raiment  prosperity.  Whether  or  not  it  was  because 
I  had  known  the  barren  and  unsatisfactory  past 
of  this  man  I  cannot  tell,  but  his  visibly  changed 
condition,  his  very  demeanor,  had  a  somewhat 
depressing  effect  upon  me.  There  was  something 
about  it  that  was  unnatural,  if  not  pathetic.  Was 
it  not  a  case  of  "new  wine  in  old  bottles";  the 
flush  of  evening  after  a  leaden  day  when  the  sun 
bursts  through  the  clouds  for  a  moment  just  be- 
fore sinking  into  the  darkness  of  the  night? 

All  the  earmarks  of  the  newly  rich  were  present. 
A  new  limousine  stood  at  the  door.  In  it  lazily 
sat  a  chauffeur  in  brand  new  uniform  whose 
actions  indicated  that  he  knew  instinctively  his 
master  was  not  to  the  "Manor  born"  and  acted 
in  accordance  with  that  knowledge.  Like  the 
limousine  and  the  chauffeur's  uniform,  our 
friend's  raiment  was  new  from  boots  to  hat.  It 
was  unnecessary  for  this  man  to  tell  me  he  had 
struck  it  rich — but  how  rich  and  how  were  the 
questions  uppermost  in  my  mind. 

After  following  more  than  a  score  of  occupa- 
tions and  pursuits,  each  leaving  him  in  penury 
but  always  where  the  rainbow  just  about  reached 
the  earth,  my  friend  concluded  to  try  a  hand  at 
the  "oil  game"  in  the  hope  that  Dame  Fortune, 
long  after  midnight  and  even  well  towards  the 


20  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

grey  dawn,  might  deal  him  a  hand  that  would  at 
least  go  towards  compensating  him  for  some  of 
his  former  ill  luck.  He  ventured  his  all  on  a 
ninety  days'  option  on  ten  acres  of  unproved  oil 
land  in  Oklahoma. 

If  the  truth  ever  could  be  known  by  the  unbar- 
ing of  the  inner  recesses  of  Jim  Owens'  heart,  it 
would  be  found  without  the  shadow  of  a  doubt 
that  this  worthy  never  expected  to  find  oil  on  this 
land,  but  what  he  really  did  plan  on  doing  was 
to  incorporate  a  company  and  sell  a  million  shares 
of  stock — par  value  one  dollar — at  the  attractive 
bargain  price  of  ten  cents  per  share — largely  on 
the  strength  of  the  fact  that  somewhere  within 
a  radius  of  twenty  miles  a  wonderful  gusher  was 
night  and  day  vomiting  out  for  the  benefit  of  its 
stockholders  and  humanity  millions  of  gallons  of 
precious  fluid  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth. 

But  something  happened  that  Jim  Owens  did 
not  calculate  on — which  mysteriously  dealt  him 
the  necessary  cards  required  to  make  his  " flush" 
and  his  fortune ! 

Unknown  to  Jim  and  everybody  else  in  the 
neighborhood,  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  in  the 
name  of  a  dummy,  held  the  adjoining  hundred 
acres.  Just  at  this  juncture  they  decided  to  put 
down  a  test  well — and  that  fortunately  within  a 
few  hundred  yards  of  Jim  Owens'  holdings.  With- 
in thirty  days  the  greatest  gusher  in  the  history 
of  Oklahoma  was  struck  and  with  it  came  Jim's 
fortune.  The  wonderful  and  exciting  news  spread 
over  the  state  like  wildfire  and  early  the  following 
morning  Jim  Owens  had  a  caller.  This  gentleman 
proved  to  be  an  agent  of  the  American  Petroleum 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  21 

Company,  who  came  prepared  to  offer  Jim  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars  in  cash  for  his  option. 
For  once  Jim  Owens  was  wise.  At  last  he  had 
caught  up  with  his  rainbow — he  took  his  pot  of 
gold. 

Thus  had  Jim  reached  his  Land  of  Heart's 
Desire.  He  was  now  rich  beyond  the  dreams  of 
avarice.  Not  that  Jim  ever  was  or  ever  could  be 
avaricious  for  avariciousness  is  an  intensified  con- 
dition of  the  mind — it  requires  certain  well  estab- 
lished mental  traits  to  sustain — for  vices  as  well 
as  virtues  require  strong  underlying  support.  If 
you  are  in  search  of  vices  or  virtues  do  not  seek 
for  them  in  the  mediocre  for  in  the  mediocre  you 
will  find  low  morals  not  vices — negation  but  not 
virtue. 

Avarice  is  a  flame,  not  a  smudge.  It  glows.  It 
is  intense.  It  is  born  of  combustible  material. 
There  was  no  combustible  material  in  Jim  Owens. 
He  wished  for  riches  but  did  not  burn  for  them. 
He  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Fortune  but  did 
not  pursue  her.  Yet,  when  Dame  Fortune  dropped 
her  favor  from  the  clouds,  it  fell  square  into  the 
lap  of  one  of  her  most  tardy  and  faithless  fol- 
lowers. 

Jim  seized  it  as  he  would  a  stray  wallet  con- 
taining an  equal  sum ;  took  it  as  a  matter  of  good 
luck  and  appropriated  it  with  no  questions  asked. 
The  fact  that  he  had  not  exactly  stolen  this  money 
nor  earned  it  did  not  enter  the  head  of  our  for- 
tunate friend  for  a  moment. 

"Mr.  Owens,"  I  said,  "how  does  it  feel  to  be 
rich?" 

"Now  there,  none  of  that!    To  my  old  friends 


22  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

I  am  still  plain  Jim  Owens,"  he  replied  with 
warmth.  "You  know  I  never  was  proud  and  I 
don't  think  I  will  begin  now  at  sixty.  That  don't 
mean  that  I  will  let  'em  get  familiar  with  me. 
People  thinks  more  of  you  when  they  think  you've 
always  been  used  to  things.  That's  what  me  and 
the  missus  both  think,  but  it's  hard  to  stand  off 
from  people  you  feel  like  being  pleasant  with. 
Take  my  driver.  It's  the  hardest  work  for  me  to 
keep  from  gettin'  too  chummy  with  him — just  as 
hard  as  it  is  to  keep  him  in  his  place  and  keep 
him  from  gettin'  too  familiar  with  me. 

"You  see,"  he  continued  confidentially,  "it  all 
came  so  sudden.  After  we  landed  in  Los  Angeles 
about  the  first  thing  we  did  was  to  invest  in  an 
auto.  Then  we  advertised  for  a  driver.  We 
picked  our  man  out  of  about  a  hundred.  When 
we  were  hirin'  him,  an  old  school  teacher  acquain- 
tance of  ours  gave  the  missus  a  tip.  She  said  it 
was  best  to  call  the  driver  by  his  given  name  and 
to  be  sure  never  to  nickname  him. 

"We  found  that  his  first  name  was  James.  I 
tell  you,  it  was  terrible  hard  to  call  a  perfect 
stranger,  such  a  gentleman-acting  man,  by  his 
first  name!  Well,  we  nerved  ourselves  up  to  it. 
But  somehow  or  other  I  felt  he  knew  we  weren't 
used  to  handling  a  driver.  Then,  too,  it  worked 
out  bad  in  a  way  that  we  hadn't  calculated  on. 
The  missus  called  the  driver  'James'  and  me 
'Jim'.  That  I  think  made  him  feel  that  I  was 
beneath  him.    It  couldn't  but  help  it. 

"Then  another  thing  made  him  more  familiar 
— that  is  with  me.  You  know  I  chew  tobacco — 
have  ever  since  I  was  nine  vears  old.     The  third 


THE   WORLD   IN   1931  23 

day  we  had  him  I  was  sitting  in  the  front  seat 
trying  my  best  not  to  talk  to  him  so  as  not  to 
give  him  a  chance  to  get  familiar,  when  to  my 
surprise  he  asked  me  for  a  chew.  I  gave  it  to 
him.  From  then  on  he  just  acted  like  one  of  our- 
selves. 

"You  see  chewin'  is  different  from  smokin'. 
If  you  give  a  man  a  cigar  he  feels  under  some 
obligations  to  you  and  if  it  is  an  extra  good  one 
you  may  go  up  in  his  estimation.  But  it's  different 
with  a  chew  of  tobacco.  It's  more  like  eatin'  with 
the  same  spoon,  out  of  the  same  dish.  It  makes 
people  chummy  and  familiar-like." 

So  a  fly  had  already  gotten  into  the  golden  oint- 
ment of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  Owens. 

"Well,  Jim,"  I  said,  "if  you  are  too  modest 
to  tell  me  how  it  feels  to  be  rich,  will  you  tell  me 
how  you  have  invested  your  money?" 

Quick  as  a  flash  and  to  the  accompaniment  of 
a  knowing  chuckle  he  replied:  "I  didn't  invest 
it  in  no  oil  stock."  Jim,  no  doubt,  concluded  that 
oil  was  too  slippery  a  foundation  upon  which  to 
rest  a  hard-earned  fortune.    He  continued : 

"When  we  reached  Los  Angeles,  I  deposited  the 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars  equally  amongst 
three  banks.  I  found  I  could  get  seven  per  cent 
on  gilt-edged  first  mortgages  on  real  estate.  I 
now  have  all  my  money  placed  and  my  income 
from  now  on  will  be  twenty-one  thousand  dollars 
a  year.  That,  I  think"  (and  again  Jim  chuckled) 
"will  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door." 
^  During  Jim's  recital,  Mrs.  Owen  was  one  con- 
tinuous smile  as  she  contemplated  her  worthy 
husband.    The  past  with  all  its  sadness,  its  long- 


24  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

suffering,  its  thousands  of  disappointments,  its 
blasted  hopes,  its  broken  promises  and  its  bar- 
renness, were  now  all  forgotten  in  the  glorious 
realization  that  "her  man"  had  at  last  made 
good. 

So  society  now  owes  Jim  Owens  a  tidy  amount 
for  "services  performed".  Society  will  have  to 
pay  that  worthy  the  sum  of  twenty-one  thousand 
dollars  per  year  for  the  rest  of  his  natural  life 
and  an  equal  amount  to  his  legal  heirs  after  he 
passes  to  his  reward.  And  the  "service"  that 
Jim  performed  for  society  was  the  very  doubtful 
one  of  assisting  in  showing  that  self-same  society 
the  probable  location  of  a  reservoir  of  oil  which 
the  Almighty  had  made  and  stored  in  nature's 
vaults  for  the  benefit  of  all  His  children. 

This  would  have  been  all  very  well  for  Jim 
and  his  heirs,  as  in  millions  of  similar  instances 
for  generations  back,  had  it  not  been  that  in  the 
year  1921,  the  people,  individually  and  collect- 
ively, were  beginning  to  question — more  than  that, 
they  were  beginning  to  think  and  think  hard,  all 
of  which,  unknown  to  Jim  and  his  kind,  criminal 
and  otherwise,  was  paving  the  way  for  a  new 
order  of  things,  an  order  in  which  the  sacred 
rights  of  property  and  profits  would  give  way  to 
the  more  sacred  rights  of  justice  and  humanity. 


CHAPTER  II 

"Coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before"  but 
the  Fates  withheld  even  a  premonition  of  what 
was  in  store  for  me  when,  on  that  beautiful  April 
morning  in  1921,  the  great  ship  "Asia"  cast 
anchor  and  set  sail  by  a  circuitous  route  for  the 
Orient. 

Most  of  the  passengers,  like  myself,  were  in 
quest  of  health  or  pleasure  and  welcomed  slow 
speed,  devious  detours  and  many  stops.  Further- 
more, they  were  made  up  principally  of  the  well- 
to-do,  those  who  had  both  time  and  money  to 
spend,  but  in  most  cases  to  all  appearance  more  of 
the  latter  than  the  former,  although  appearances 
in  that  case,  as  time  revealed,  proved  deceiving — 
but  not  deceiving  to  the  few  who  saw  clearly  the 
ominous  shadows  of  coming  world  events. 

A  great  ocean  liner  is  the  world  in  miniature. 
Here  are  the  children  of  the  nations  with  national 
frontiers  removed,  mingling  as  one  big  family. 
The  Orient  and  the  Occident  have  met — East  and 
West  are  one.  The  warm  and  the  cold  currents 
of  life  flow  as  the  currents  of  the  ocean.  Side 
by  side  flow  the  warm  streams  from  sunny  natures, 
only  to  be  met  and  checked  by  the  icy  flow  from 
hearts  long  frozen  in  Arctic  night. 

For  days  these  warm  and  cold  waters  like  the 
Gulf  Stream  at  first  refuse  to  mix — flow  side  by 
side  and  yet  apart.  But  if  the  voyage  be  suffi- 
ciently long,  the  miracle  of  the  Gulf  Stream  is 

25 


26  THE   WORLD    IN    1931 

re-enacted.  The  chill  gives  way  to  warmth  and 
friendships  bloom  and  blossom  like  the  rose.  Rap- 
idly these  icy  waters  are  mysteriously  turned  to 
wine  and  soon  we  have  the  communion  of  spirits. 

Friendships  formed  under  these  conditions  are 
usually  sincere  for  they  spring  spontaneously 
from  the  heart  and  from  a  common  equality.  Here 
the  coin  is  taken  at  its  face  value  and  because  it 
appears  to  have  the  true  ring.  Friendships  here 
are  not  begun  for  an  end,  as  on  land,  and  for  this 
reason  will  continue  in  all  likelihood  to  the  end — 
at  least  to  the  end  of  the  journey  and  perhaps 
for  life. 

So,  as  the  great  ship  speeds  on  into  the  eternal 
waste,  these  bonds  of  friendship  are  formed  draw- 
ing souls  closer  together,  not  for  reasons  of  in- 
terest, but  of  contact  for  the  friendship  of  interest 
may  be  one  of  virtue  or  one  of  vice.  Here  we  are 
natural  and  without  prejudice — prejudice  that  evil 
thing  that  makes  us  hate  because  we  know  not  and 
prevents  us  knowing  because  we  ignorantly  hate. 

The  one  exception  to  this  law  of  the  sea  was 
Mrs.  J.  Stanley  Barnstable  of  Boston,  wife  of 
Mr.  J.  Stanley  Barnstable,  broker  of  that  cult- 
ural if  not,  exactly,  classic  city. 

Mrs.  Barnstable  positively  refused  either  to  mix 
or  melt.  She  was  impervious  alike  to  the  increas- 
ing equatorial  glow  and  warmth  of  the  atmosphere 
and  of  individual  neighborly  overtures.  The 
warmth  irritated  her  and  the  overtures  offended 
her  aesthetic  and  exclusive  nature.  Mrs.  Barn- 
stable was  a  self-generating,  self-regulating  hu- 
man refrigerator.  She  succeeded  admirably  in 
reversing  the  processes  of  nature  in  that  with  her 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  27 

the  freezing  process  began  from  within  instead  of 
from  without  and  she  was  just  as  solidly  frozen 
on  the  surface  as  at  the  heart.  But  withal  it  was 
an  artificial  frost.  It  was  all  the  result  of  a  delu- 
sion— a  delusion  firmly  fixed  and  long  practised, 
become,  more  or  less,  a  second  nature.  That  delu- 
sion, briefly,  consisted  in  the  conviction  that  to 
be  " somebody"  or  to  be  thought  "somebody" 
one  must  stand  aside  from  the  common  herd,  es- 
pecially from  a  crowd. 

With  Mrs.  Barnstable  it  was  not  a  question  of 
being  "somebody"  but  of  being  thought  "some- 
body"; a  rare  being,  one  in  fact  to  be  approached 
with  caution  and  reverence  but  not  to  be  examined 
too  closely.  She  assumed  this  frosty  air  partly 
to  keep  the  herd  at  awe-£\A  distance  and  partly 
to  prevent  too  close  inspection  by  those  souls 
whose  countenance  she  craved.  She  knew  in  her 
own  self-frozen  heart  that  she  was  an  impostor, 
a  base  counterfeit,  glittering  paste  instead  of 
diamond,  and  it  behooved  her  to  keep  the  elect 
as  well  as  the  mob  at  a  safe  distance — thus  cutting 
herself  from  all  intimate  human  society.  She  was 
as  completely  isolated  as  the  Arctic  explorer — 
even  worse  off  for  the  explorer  has  his  dogs  and 
Mrs.  Barnstable  "hated  animals". 

Thus  this  vain  and  pompous  creature  goes 
through  life,  attempting  to  hide  her  poverty  of 
mind  and  estate  by  making  it  appear  that  she  is 
rich  in  both,  but  always  oblivious  of  the  fact  that 
her  vanity  and  hypocrisy  were  patent  even  to 
little  children,  for  it  ever  will  hold  true  that  nat- 
ural habits,  though  ill  in  themselves,  are  never 
so  odious  as  those  we  affect  to  assume. 


28  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

One  evening,  during  an  impromptu  concert, 
Mrs.  Barnstable  put  in  a  lone  appearance  but  not 
without  at  first  critically  scanning  the  crowd  for 
a  moment  at  the  door  before  entering.  Notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  her  step  was  noiseless  and 
the  seat  which  was  to  have  the  high  honor  of  sup- 
porting for  an  hour  so  precious  a  load  was  but  a 
short  distance  from  the  door  and  well  to  the  rear, 
every  person  in  the  room,  including  the  enter- 
tainer, turned  instinctively.  It  is  cited  as  a  scien- 
tific fact  that  astronomers  by  their  delicate  in- 
struments can  detect  the  presence  of  a  new  planet, 
even  though  it  is  not  visible  to  the  eye  of  the 
most  powerful  telescope.  Science,  also,  definitely 
and  accurately  makes  known  to  the  mariner  the 
presence  of  an  iceberg,  even  though  it  may  be 
many  miles  away.  Likewise,  there  seems  to  be 
implanted  somewhere  in  our  inner  consciousness 
a  power  to  feel  the  presence  of  great  souls — as 
wTell  as  the  presence  of  human  icebergs.  There 
are  things  that  as  yet  defy  human  analysis — 
things  of  the  spirit  that  are  beyond  weights  and 
measures,  retorts  and  telescopes. 

When  the  music  had  ceased  and  conversation 
had  become  general,  although  somewhat  subdued 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  great  lady,  Mrs. 
Barnstable  was  asked  how  she  was  enjoying  the 
voyage.  Before  answering  she  took  the  complete 
measurement  of  her  interrogator  by  a  sweeping 
glance,  first  up,  then  down  and  again  up  and  down, 
her  lorgnette  adjusted  to  a  nicety  and  with  ar- 
tistic dexterity.  It  is,  indeed,  safe  to  say  that  no 
answer  would  have  been  forthcoming  other  than 
a  withering  stare  had  it  not  been  that  Mrs.  Barn- 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  29 

stable  wished  to  unburden  herself  of  a  few  things 
which  she  had  on  her  mind  and  this  was  her  oppor- 
tunity. 

"Madam,"  she  said,  "you  have  asked  me  a 
question  and  I  have  to  answer  you  truthfully — 
I  don't  like  anything  about  it.  The  management 
of  the  ship  deceived  us  grossly.  They  announced 
that  it  would  be  a  very  select  party  that  would 
take  this  trip  and  instead  it  is  a  vulgar  mob.  It 
is  made  up  of  tradesmen,  traveling  men  and,  I 
suppose  by  their  appearance,  a  goodly  share  of 
gamblers  and  sports.  Of  course,  I  do  not  know 
a  soul  on  board  save  one  or  two  by  sight.  But 
I  know  my  own  kind  when  I  see  them.  As  I  sat 
here  this  evening  I  was  filled  with  utter  disgust. 

"Just  look,  for  instance,  at  that  blonde  girl, 
the  one  with  her  elbow  on  the  piano.  Her  father 
owns  a  stock  yard  in  Boston  and  a  chain  of  cheap 
meat  stores.  When  I  knew  him  first  he  didn't 
have  a  penny.  Now  I  suppose  he  has  money.  He 
sent  this  girl  to  some  ladies'  college  and  they  are 
now  taking  a  trip  around  the  world.  The  worst 
of  it  is  that  strangers,  not  knowing  them,  will 
think  these  people  are  somebody.  Travelers  are 
so  easily  deceived,  which  only  shows  how  careful 
one  must  be. 

"See  that  gentleman  with  whom  she  is  talking. 
From  the  second  day  we  were  out  they  have  been 
together  constantly.  He  looks  very  much  a  gen- 
tleman. I  would  venture  a  good  deal  that  he 
belongs  to  the  diplomatic  service.  Yet  even  he 
can  be  deceived.  I  feel  it  my  duty,  if  the  oppor- 
tunity presents  itself,  to  enlighten  him. 

"Mv  husband  is  still  confined  to  his  state-room 


30  THE    WORLD   IN   1931 

but  I  tell  him  he  has  missed  nothing.  We  are 
here  for  his  health — certainly  not  for  my  pleasure. 
My  husband's  business  duties  have  been  exacting 
and  arduous,  and  I  feel  now  that  he  is  entitled  to 
a  short  vacation.  He  certainly  has  earned  one. 
Will  have  another  chat  with  you  later.  Good 
night. ' ' 

The  lady  who  took  part  in  this  very  one-sided 
conversation  was  of  an  inquiring  and  investigat- 
ing mind — all  in  the  " interest  of  science"  as  she 
would  laughingly  put  it.  Mrs.  Barnstable  had, 
unconsciously,  given  her  food  for  thought  and  two 
subjects  for  investigation. 

First  of  all  she  is  going  to  find  out  something 
about  the  ' '  gentleman  in  the  diplomatic  service ' ' ; 
then  something  more  of  Mr.  J.  Stanley  Barn- 
stable, broker  of  Boston  or,  to  put  it  in  the  more 
up-to-date  manner  of  our  Christian  Science 
friends,  "in  Boston".  When  you  think  of  Boston 
you  must  think  in  Boston  terms  and  Christian 
Science  is  very  much  "in"  as  well  as  "of"  Bos- 
ton; adding  materially  as  it  has  to  the  cult-ural 
aspect  of  that  celebrated  old  town. 

My  purpose,  as  you  will  see,  is  not  to  hold  up 
to  the  public  gaze  those  purely  local  institutions 
of  which  Boston  is  at  the  same  time  so  sensitive 
and  so  proud ;  but  rather  those  institutions  whicli 
are  more  often  credited  to  Boston — such  an  insti- 
tution, for  example,  as  Mrs.  J.  Stanley  Barn- 
stable, who  really  is  of  every  town,  city,  village 
and  hamlet  in  this  wide  domain.  But  to  return 
to  our  amateur  investigator. 

By  subterranean  methods  known  only  to  the 
intuitive  sex,  some  portion  of  the  "past"  of  the 


THE    WORLD    IN   1931  31 

two  fellow  passengers  in  question  was  revealed. 
Contrary  to  the  imaginative  mind  of  Mrs.  Barn- 
stable, the  diplomatic  appearing  gentleman  was 
none  other  than  a  real  estate  agent  from  Provi- 
dence, Rhode  Island — in  other  words,  an  ordinary 
individual  who  was  compelled  to  lie  for  a  living 
at  home  instead  of  a  distinguished  diplomat  com- 
pelled to  lie  for  his  country  abroad. 

The  world  encircling  trip  of  this  gentleman  was 
made  possible  by  reason  of  a  recent  profit  on  a 
real  estate  transaction  in  his  native  city.  Please 
understand  that  I  shall  not,  even  for  a  moment, 
insinuate  that  this  real  estate  agent  was  anything 
but  an  honest  man  or  the  aforesaid  transaction 
anything  but  regular  and  lawful  as  judged  by 
standards  of  1921 ;  but  the  fact  I  wish  to  convey 
and  record  here  is  the  fact  that  this  gentleman 
acquired  the  sum  of  $50,000  (a  sum  greater  than 
a  thousand  day  laborers  could  save  in  a  year) 
and  that  all  within  the  space  of  30  days  because 
he  discovered  that  the  City  of  Providence  pro- 
posed to  build  a  new  library.  He  concluded  there 
were  only  three  available  sites  for  that  necessary 
institution  and  with  due  foresight  and  becoming 
energy  proceeded  to  tie  up  by  option  the  three 
available  locations.  As  the  library  committee  was 
compelled  to  choose  one  of  the  three,  the  only 
thing  left  for  them  to  do  was  to  pay  the  aforesaid 
real  estate  broker  his  $50,000  profit,  issue  $50,000 
additional  bonds  bearing  6  per  cent  interest,  there- 
by adding  $50,000  to  the  bonded  indebtedness  of 
the  city  and  $3,000  yearly  to  the  city's  tax  roll, 
thereby  furnishing  our  diplomatic  looking  gen- 
tleman an  income  of  $3,000  per  year  for  life  and, 


32  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

if  he  should  be  content  to  draw  the  interest  only 
and  let  the  principal  stand,  he  would  be  in  a  posi- 
tion at  the  time  of  his  death  to  hand  over  $50,000 
in  bonds  to  his  heirs  and  the  good  taxpayers  of 
Providence  and  their  children  and  their  children's 
children  would  pay  to  this  gentleman  and  his 
children  and  their  children  for  time  beyond  imagi- 
nation the  sum  of  $3,000  per  year  and  still  at  the 
end  of  time  be  $50,000  in  debt! 

All  this  happened  and  was  possible  in  1921. 

Please  understand  I  am  not  insinuating  that 
the  aforesaid  real  estate  man  was  less  truthful  or 
any  less  honorable  than  the  doctor,  the  lawyer, 
the  clergyman  or  the  grocer  of  those  days — re- 
sembling, as  they  all  did  to  some  extent,  the  high- 
wayman with  the  possible  exception  of  his  bravery. 
The  only  real  difference  to  be  noted,  for  instance, 
between  the  clergyman  and  the  real  estate  dealer 
was  that  the  former  was  not  supposed  to  falsify 
and  did  frequently  falsify  while  the  latter  was 
supposed  to  falsify  but  very  frequently  told  the 
truth.  The  minister  was  frequently  a  double  falsi- 
fier. He  falsified  in  both  what  he  claimed  and  in 
what  he  denied,  while  the  real  estate  dealer  falsi- 
fied only  in  what  he  claimed;  and  with  the  addi- 
tional difference  that  the  real  estate  man  usually 
gave  good  title  to  his  mansions  on  earth  (other- 
wise he  would  have  gone  to  jail)  while  the  clergy- 
man dispensed  doubtful  titles  to  mansions  in  the 
skies  but  was  never  brought  to  book  for  receiving 
money  under  false  pretenses — owing,  of  course, 
to  lack  of  the  necessary  witnesses  who,  from  the 
very  nature  of  things,  would  be  impossible  to 
produce,  they  contenting  themselves  in  childishly 


THE   WORLD   IN   1931  33 

endeavoring  to  appease  the  wrath  of  high  heaven 
by  long  prayers,  canned  modesty  and  padlocked 
virtue. 

It  is  both  charitable  and  fair  to  say  that  all 
these  more  or  less  well-meaning  men  (including 
the  clergyman  and  to  some  extent  that  illegal 
robber,  the  highwayman,)  were  victims  of  an  im- 
moral and  unrighteous  social  and  economic  system 
in  which  profits  and  prostitution  went  hand  in 
hand — in  which  every  man  was  for  himself  and 
"the  devil  take  the  hindmost" — in  which  Beth- 
lehem's glare  of  hell  with  its  myriads  of  hollow 
eyes,  bent  backs  and  shrunken  frames  were  vomit- 
ing missiles  for  human  destruction,  supplanting 
Bethlehem's  manger,  the  angels  of  Peace,  Good 
Will  and  the  Still  Small  Voice. 

You  have  yet  to  be  introduced  to  Mr.  J.  Stanley 
Barnstable,  the  gentleman  who  was  taking  a  well- 
earned  holiday.  Mr.  Barnstable  was  not  exactly 
what  might  be  called  a  business  man,  unless  by 
virtue  of  the  fact  that  his  business  was  to  get  the 
money ;  nor  was  he  a  professional  man,  unless  we 
understand  by  the  term  one  who  has  reduced  some 
genteel  employment  to  more  or  less  of  an  exact 
science,  at  the  same  time  remaining  respectable 
and  respected.  This,  Mr.  Barnstable  had  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  and  that,  too,  for  the  whole  period 
of  his  "professional"  life.  He  had  reduced  the 
gentle  art  of  gambling  to  a  science,  yet  he  re- 
mained respectable  and  respected.  He  played  the 
stock  market  and  he  played  "a  system",  all  of 
which  proved  uniformly  successful,  making  of 
him  the  successful  gambler. 


34  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

Each  morning  promptly  at  10  o'clock,  (except 
on  Sundays  when  at  that  hour  he  would  reverently 
lay  out  his  silk  hat,  frock  coat  and  patent  leather 
shoes  preparatory  for  church),  this  worthy  gen- 
tleman would  reach  his  little  office  in  Milk  Street, 
happily  named,  and  ticker  tape  in  hand  would, 
until  3  P.  M.,  carefully  scan  the  market  quotations 
direct  from  Wall  Street.  Telephone  at  hand  he 
would  from  time  to  time  through  the  course  of 
the  day  issue  orders  to  his  broker  to  "buy"  or 
"sell"  in  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  his  scientific 
system. 

Mr.  Barnstable  bought  and  sold  and  sold  and 
bought  millions  of  shares  of  stock  in  the  course 
of  his  Wall  Street  career  and,  if  the  truth  were 
known,  he  scarcely  would  know  a  stock  certificate 
from  a  cigar  store  coupon,  for  of  the  actual  com- 
modities or  enterprises  that  he  bought  and  sold 
he  saw  neither  hide  nor  hair. 

In  a  very  general  way  it  might  be  well  to  out- 
line his  system.  In  fact,  it  will  be  possible  to  do 
this  only  in  a  rough  fashion  for  the  very  simple 
reason  that  skill  and  finesse  are  impossible  to  de- 
scribe or  portray,  as  are  those  subtler  senses 
which  characterize  the  master  hand  and  make  him 
stand  out  and  apart  from  the  mere  operator. 

Barnstable  was  in  some  respects  a  rare  animal 
— a  combination  of  weasel,  fox  and  leach.  In  per- 
fect security  and  unobserved  he  fastened  himself 
on  the  great  arteries  of  production  and  in  unison 
with  thousands  of  others  of  his  kind,  great  and 
small,  silently  sucked  the  blood  and  the  life  from 
the  very  vitals  of  the  body  politic — substituting 
the  pallor  of  death  for  the  rightful  and  roseate 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  35 

hue  of  health.  And  one  of  the  wickedest,  as  well 
as  one  of  the  meanest,  of  these  gamblers  was 
Barnstable,  so  proficient  was  he  in  the  black  art 
game  of  getting  something  for  absolutely  nothing. 

And  now  for  the  "system". 

There  is  a  science  in  gambling  just  as  there  is 
a  science  in  religion,  in  politics  or  in  chemistry. 
Knowledge  of  a  certain  order  is  necessary  for  the 
gambler  and  back  of  this  knowledge  nerve,  but 
back  of  all  an  important,  indefinable  something — 
that  something,  for  instance,  which  the  rabbit 
lacks  and  the  fox  possesses. 

First  of  all,  Barnstable  had  more  than  a  fair 
knowledge  of  world  conditions.  He  knew  the  busi- 
ness trend,  whether  up  or  down  or  simply  mark- 
ing time.  He  confined  his  operations  to  those 
stocks  that  were  intimately  interwoven  and  bound 
up  with  the  machinery  of  national  life — stocks 
which  might  be  called  the  pulse  of  the  nation  and 
the  barometers  of  business. 

Frequently  Barnstable  was  heard  to  say:  "If 
I  were  traveling  in  the  wilds  of  Africa  and  years 
away  from  home,  if  I  wanted  to  know  the  con- 
dition of  business  in  America  at  any  particular 
time  all  the  information  I  would  need  would  be 
the  latest  quotation  on  United  States  steel.  If 
around  120,  I  would  know  that  business  was  good; 
if  75,  look  out  for  the  breakers  ! ' '  Most  important 
thing  of  all  with  Mr.  Barnstable  was  the  trend 
of  the  market.  This  determined  to  a  nicety,  the 
rest  was  comparatively  easy — that  is,  easy  for 
that  expert. 

For  example,  after  looking  the  whole  situation 
over,  he  determined  that  the  country  was  in  for 


36  THE   WORLD    IN   1931 

a  period  of  depression,  diagnosing  and  prognosti- 
cating very  much  as  does  the  successful  physician. 
Carefully  scrutinizing  the  stocks,  he  would  elim- 
inate those  of  a  very  fluctuating  and  speculative 
nature  and  would  confine  his  selections  to  those 
weighty  stocks  that  would  surely  follow  the 
devious  course  of  business  in  its  downward  flight, 
without  jumping  the  track,  yet  which  might  re- 
spond temporarily,  if  but  slightly,  to  artificial 
pressure,  whether  that  pressure  be  to  drive  them 
up  or  to  drive  them  down. 

Having  determined  that  business  had  reached 
its  apex  and  was  destined  for  a  long  trip  down- 
hill, he  would  lay  his  plans  accordingly.  United 
States  Steel,  for  instance,  was  one  of  his  favorites. 
When  business  was  at  its  peak  United  States 
Steel  hovered  around  130.  He  decided  it  was 
destined  for  a  trip  down  the  mountain  side  to  the 
accompaniment  of  general  business  depression — 
how  far  it  would  be  difficult  for  him  to  say  but 
that  could  be  determined  later.  If  conditions 
were  bad  it  would  travel  comparatively  fast — but 
whether  fast  or  slow  he  knew  the  trend  would  be 
downward.  He  might  even  come  to  a  mental  con- 
clusion, after  thoughtful  consideration,  that  be- 
fore taking  a  permanent  upgrade  again  it  would 
drop  to  80  or  even  70,  but  such  a  definite  forecast 
would  be  humanly  impossible  and  Barnstable 
never  played  for  "long  pulls"  although  he  might 
be  convinced  that  business  was  in  for  a  long  pull. 
He  knew  that  in  falling  from  130  to  80  (that  is, 
50  points)  in  reality  the  stock  would  travel  up 
and  down  at  least  500  points  in  order  to  reach 
the  lower  level  for  the  reason  that  a  stock  never 


THE    WORLD   IN    1931  37 

travels  in  a  straight  line  from  its  source  to  its 
low  level  goal.  In  its  downward  course,  it  would 
take  as  many  sharp  "up  turns"  as  down  turns, 
the  only  difference  being  that  some  of  the  down- 
ward dips  would  be  proportionately  longer  than 
the  upward  ones  and  in  the  aggregate  a  lower 
level  would  thus  be  reached.  In  other  words,  he 
knew  the  trend  (the  all  important  thing)  and  took 
advantage  of  the  temporary  swings  within  the 
trend.  Barnstable  played  each  fluctuation,  whether 
up  or  down,  for  a  1  to  3  point  profit.  He  was 
neither  "bull"  nor  a  "bear"  but  an  expert  pro- 
fessional "trader".  Knowledge,  nerve  and,  for 
lack  of  a  better  word, ' '  finesse, ' '  therefore,  brought 
him  uniform  success — in  other  words,  the  money. 
******* 

It  may  be  claimed  that  Barnstable  was  a  gam- 
bler, living  on  gamblers,  which  primarily  and  to 
a  superficial  extent  may  be  true.  Yet  he  was  a 
huge  rat  in  the  economic  granary — sleek,  well- 
fed  and  withal  elusive.  A  rat  though  a  member 
in  the  Episcopalian  Church  of  long  standing  at 
whose  home  the  Bishop  put  up  while  in  town.  A 
rat  though  the  Curate  found  in  him  "a  sincere 
friend  and  brother". 

The  Bishop  and  the  Curate  called  one  day  at  Mr. 
Barnstable's  office  to  keep  a  downtown  lunch  ap- 
pointment. These  men  of  God  never  before  had 
heard  the  music  of  a  stock  ticker.  To  say  they 
were  interested  would  be  to  put  it  mildly. 

Mr.  Barnstable  took  great  pleasure  in  explain- 
ing all  the  details — how  the  quotations  just  printed 
represented  transactions  completed  away  off  in 
New  York  but  fifteen  seconds  ago  and  how,  in  as 


38  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

many  seconds,  he  could  buy  or  sell  any  of  these 
stocks  at  will.  After  these  explanations  were 
made,  the  Bishop  placed  an  appreciative  hand  on 
Barnstable's  shoulder.  With  considerable  show 
of  feeling  he  said : 

"I  sometimes  envy  you  big  business  men,  you 
men  of  affairs.  You  do  such  wonderful  things — 
all  so  interesting,  so  fascinating  and  so  entertain- 
ing. What  wonders  you  perform  as  a  result  of 
your  wise  and  beneficent  ventures.  Pardon  the 
word  ventures — plans  is  the  better  word.  Such 
farseeing  and  enterprising  men  as  you  modestly 
and  silently  turn  deserts  into  gardens,  then  scatter 
your  bounties  and  gifts  and  employment.  On 
every  hand  are  the  grateful  evidences  of  your  use- 
fulness and  benefactions." 

To  all  this  Mr.  Barnstable  smiled  a  sickly  smile, 
which  was  taken  by  the  Bishop  for  modest  embar- 
rassment. The  conversation  was  adroitly  brought 
to  an  end  by  the  broker  reminding  his  guests  that 
the  time  for  lunch  had  arrived. 

It  has  been  recorded  heretofore  that  Mr.  Barn- 
stable was  an  Episcopalian.  It  is  only  proper  to 
say  that  this  gentleman  was  not  altogether  satis- 
fied with  his  church  affiliation,  believing  that  he 
better  could  be  served  in  an  atmosphere  and  in 
surroundings  more  congenial.  In  fairness  it  must 
be  stated  that  Mr.  Barnstable  had  no  fault  to 
find  with  the  Episcopal  Church,  its  members,  its 
Curate  or  its  Bishop.  Its  members  had  treated 
him  as  one  of  themselves.  Never  in  the  pulpit  or 
out  of  it  had  the  Bishop  or  Curate  said  one  word 
to  embarrass  Barnstable,  to  make  him  in  any  way 
uncomfortable  or,  in  the  remotest  way  to  irritate 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  39 

his  sensibilities.  "They  are  both  good  sports," 
he  frequently  was  heard  to  say  of  them. 

Had  he  left  that  church  it  would  not  have  been 
in  spite,  anger  or  the  desire  to  avoid  something 
unpleasant.  His  position  was  very  much  different 
from  that  of  Pat  who,  when  urged  to  comply  with 
some  request  of  the  church  on  threat  of  excom- 
munication, continually  failed  to  do  as  demanded. 

"Pat,"  thundered  the  priest,  "I  ask  you  for  the 
last  time  what  are  you  doing  to  do  about  it  ?  Are 
you  going  to  do  as  I  ask?" 

"I  will  join  the  Methodists  and  go  to  hell  first !" 
was  Pat's  emphatic  and  timely  answer. 

Transfer  of  membership  in  Protestant  churches 
is  not  a  very  serious  affair.  Membership  may  be 
continued  long  after  a  member  becomes  restless 
or  unruly,  but  how  different  in  the  Catholic  church 
— that  stern  and  unbending  mother  who  refuses 
her  love  unless  in  return  for  obedience ;  and  then 
takes  prince  and  pauper  alike,  side  by  side,  into 
her  great  protecting  arms ! 

Amongst  the  Protestant  churches  competition 
was  keen  and  as  none  of  them  had  a  monopoly, 
like  the  Catholics,  they  could  not  be  very  dis- 
criminating, therefore  their  particular  adherents 
could  be  correspondingly  independent.  But  it  was 
not  independence  Barnstable  sought  in  his  church 
relations — it  was  opportunity.  He  wanted  some- 
thing tangible  of  the  life  that  is  as  well  as  of  the 
life  to  come. 

"All  things  being  equal,"  he  frequently  re- 
marked: "If  you  are  going  to  take  stock  in  a 
thing — why  not  in  a  revenue  producer?" 

The  Episcopalian  Church  had  not  as  yet  made 


40  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

a  specialty  of  promoting  business.  In  fact,  just 
what  the  particular  functions  of  that  church  were, 
no  one  seemed  to  know — at  least  no  one  could 
ever  find  out  by  observation  though  they  might 
possibly  be  revealed  by  careful  search  and  in- 
quiry. 

Mrs.  Barnstable  may  possibly  throw  some  light 
on  the  subject.  The  Episcopal  Church  suited  Mrs. 
Barnstable  in  every  particular.  Here  she  found 
an  atmosphere  to  her  liking,  a  congenial  repose 
for  her  soul.  We  have  already  had  a  hint  of  the 
kind  of  atmosphere  that  exactly  suited  Mrs.  Barn- 
stable, which  may  be  the  key  that  opens  the  vault 
that  holds  this  great  secret. 

Now,  Mr.  Barnstable  had  a  hankering,  if  not 
abiding  notion,  that  there  was  "something  in 
Christian  Science."  His  mind  was  rather  hazy 
on  the  subject.  He  saw  it  not  "through  a  glass 
darkly",  but  rather  through  a  brilliant  mist  in 
which  nothing  could  be  discerned  in  accurate  de- 
tail. But  the  general  effect  was  pleasing,  enticing 
and  alluring.  He  felt  toward  Christian  Science 
what  many  feel  toward  fortune  telling.  We  may 
not  believe  in  it,  even  make  sport  of  it  openly, 
but  we  spend  our  good  dollars  on  it  and  are 
pleased  or  disturbed  at  what  it  reveals — the  best 
proof  that  we  think  there  may  be  something  in  it. 

Mr.  Barnstable  could  not  keep  his  growing  con- 
victions from  his  wife  any  longer.  He  knew  there 
would  be  an  explosion,  but  tell  her  he  must  and 
bravely  take  the  consequences. 

"Why,  Stanley,"  exclaimed  the  outraged  wife. 
"I  am  amazed!  Are  you  really  going  insane? 
Why  must  you  humiliate  me  in  this  manner?  What- 


THE    WORLD    IN   1931  41 

ever  will  our  friends  think  and  say — the  Potters, 
the  Sturdivents  and  the  Wilbertons?  Have  we  a 
friend  worth  knowing  who  is  not  in  our  church? 
Why  they  will  cut  us  dead!  You  know  as  well 
as  you  know  anything  that  whatever  standing  we 
have  in  Boston  society  is  due  to  our  connection 
with  the  church.  I  say  to  you  frankly,  if  you 
withdraw  now  you  will  go  your  way  alone ! 

Fortunately  for  Barnstable  this  last  remark 
suggested  a  very  happy  way  out. 

"My  dear,"  he  said,  "we  compromise:  you 
stick  to  the  Episcopalian  Church  for  society  and 
I  will  join  the  Science  Church  for  business." 

This  plan  appealed  instantly  to  Mrs.  Barn- 
stable. She  immediately  saw  its  advantages  for 
could  she  not  pose  as  a  martyr  to  Episcopalian- 
ism,  with  all  its  attendant  fruits,  yet  secretly 
share  her  husband's  business  aspirations  in  which 
she  had  great  confidence! 

It  must  not  be  inferred  that  while  Barnstable 
approached  the  Christian  Science  Church  for 
purely  business  reasons  all  of  its  adherents  were 
attracted  for  that  purpose.  Many  are  attracted 
for  the  reason  that  it  is  a  "beautiful  religion" 
— but  we  must  remember  "beauty  is  only  skin 
deep."  It  may  be  true  that  religion  has  some- 
thing to  do  with  morals  and  beauty  something 
to  do  with  religion;  even  so  it  is  not  a  question 
of  how  beautiful  a  religion  may  be  but  rather  how 
true  it  is — not  really  how  much  truth  it  claims, 
but  rather  how  much  truth  it  illiberally  denies. 

We  must  give  Barnstable  credit  for  not  going 
into  the  church  for  the  purpose  of  making  money 
out  of  its  members  as  some  have  done.    He  had 


42  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

no  stock  for  sale.  His  reason  was  a  business  one, 
nevertheless.  He  felt  that  he  was  in  need  of 
"treatment"  not  for  his  health,  for  that  on  a 
whole  was  good,  but  for  his  business.  He  fre- 
quently had  consulted  a  practitioner  for  that  pur- 
pose with  apparently  excellent  and  encouraging 
results.  It  may  be  said  that  recruits  came  largely 
through  these  practitioners  as  they  proved  the 
personal  connecting  links  between  the  church  and 
the  great  outside  world.  The  services  in  the 
church  could  be  dignified,  ethical,  austere  and  im- 
personal, thus  adding  to  its  impressiveness ;  but 
the  services  of  the  practitioners,  at  their  offices, 
could  be  eminently  personal  and  of  the  heart-to- 
heart  variety. 

Barnstable's  interest  in  the  church  came 
through  his  practitioner.  He  felt  that  she  was 
sincere  and  had  something  that  he  could  make 
use  of  permanently  and  constantly.  He  knew 
other  "brokers"  who  were  having  good  results 
from  their  "treatments".  In  fact  many  of  these 
practitioners,  particularly  in  the  larger  cities,  de- 
rived their  principal  revenue  from  "Wall  Street" 
sources.  Not  only  this  but  the  daily  organ  of 
the  church  devoted  the  more  important  part  of  its 
space  to  the  world's  greatest  and  cruellest  gam- 
bling institution — Wall  Street.  He  was  a  very  un- 
appreciative  and  not  a  very  up-to-date  broker  who 
hadn't  a  copy  of  the  Christian  Science  Monitor 
in  his  public  files. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  know  wherein  lay  the 
efficacy  of  these  "treatments"  and  upon  what 
foundation,  spiritual  or  otherwise,  they  rested. 
First  of  all  in  arriving  at  a  conclusion  we  must 


THE   WORLD   IN   1931  43 

have  a  starting  point.  We  must  ask  if  this  thing 
be  of  God  or  of  the  devil  or  simply  of  men  apart 
from  God  or  the  devil. 

If  a  sufferer  from  malaria  who  lives  in  a  swamp 
goes  to  an  honest  physician  to  be  cured,  the  phy- 
sician will  tell  him  first  of  all  to  get  out  of  the 
swamp.  If  a  Wall  Street  broker  or  any  other 
gambler  or  gambling-house  keeper  goes  to  a  practi- 
tioner for  a  business  treatment  (which  they  fre- 
quently do)  that  practitioner  if  she  be  honest  will 
tell  that  person  to  get  out  of  their  evil  business. 
If  she  does  not  (and  we  have  no  evidence  that 
they  do)  in  spite  of  which  the  treatment  brings 
good  results,  it  certainly  is  not  of  God  and  there- 
fore it  must  be  of  the  devil  or  merely  happened 
by  accident.  Which  horn  of  the  dilemma  is  the 
practitioner  going  to  take!  Is  she  going  to  admit 
that  she  is  an  agent  of  the  devil  and  engaged  in 
promoting  bad  business  or  is  she  going  to  own  up 
to  the  charge  that  what  happened  would  have  hap- 
pened any  waif? 

But  we  must,  to  a  degree,  record  here  the  atti- 
tude of  the  church  in  relation  to  worldly  affairs 
— so  to  emphasize  the  contrast  between  1921  and 
1931,  for  it  is  only  in  this  way  that  we  may  under- 
stand and  realize  how  little  assistance  the  church 
gave  in  the  struggle  for  social  and  economic 
justice. 

The  churches,  with  the  exception  of  Christian 
Science,  did  not  preach  particularly  ' '  special  prov- 
idences" in  business.  They  were  firm  believers 
in  hard  work,  the  early  bird  and  the  survival  of 
the  fittest.  As  to  the  fate  of  the  unfit,  the  late 
bird  and  the  worm,  they  had  no  concern.     The 


44  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

churches  were  controlled  by  great  and  small  capi- 
talists and  property  owners  and  those  ministers 
who  preached  against  either  the  sacred  rights  of 
capital  or  of  property  might  well  consider  their 
divine  mission  at  an  end. 

The  Christian  Science  leaders,  on  the  contrary, 
took  a  slightly  different  course.  They  preached 
abundance  for  their  adherents,  not  only  in  the  life 
to  come  but  here  on  earth.  Their  Heavenly  Father 
being  rich,  they  had  only  to  lay  claim  to  these 
riches.  As  evidence  of  the  manifest  truth  and  its 
practical  application  on  earth  they  pointed  to  the 
wealth,  opulence  and  prosperity  of  the  members 
of  their  congregation.  And  they  were  in  the  main 
far  removed  from  poverty.  They  were,  it  seemed, 
possessed  with  a  superabundance  of  this  world's 
goods.  The  limousines  surrounding  their  places 
of  worship — the  swish  of  silks — the  flashing  of 
diamonds — the  delicate  and  expensive  perfumes! 
All  might  mislead  one  into  thinking  he  were  enter- 
ing the  Grand  Opera  House  on  a  special  occasion 
instead  of  a  Church  dedicated  to  the  meek  and 
lowly  Christ. 

Although  intoxicated  by  the  perfume — although 
bewildered  by  the  labyrinth  of  silken  mesh  and 
slyly  peeking  lingerie  reclining  gracefully  on  a 
background  of  exquisitely  blended  alabaster  and 
pink — although  dazzled  by  jewels  glittering  on  a 
thousand  fingers,  radiating  from  throats  and 
breasts  which  rise  and  fall  gracefully  in  response 
to  saintly  impulses  or  glinting  like  sparkling  bub- 
bles from  youthful  heads  of  fairy  flax  or  raven 
tresses  or  from  those  wonderful  creations  of  the 
hairdresser's  art  in  Titian  hue  or  spun  gold  on 


THE   WORLD    IN   1931  45 

heads  of  dames  of  sixty,  masquerading  as  damsels 
of  thirty — the  stranger  within  these  pearly  gates 
would  be  impressed  with  the  studied  fairness  and 
impartiality  with  which  the  absent  Christ  is  put 
on  an  equality  with  their  ever-present  idol — Mrs. 
Eddy. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  indulge  in  controversial 
and  theoretical  questions  of  faith  and  future  as 
expounded  by  the  churches  of  1921  with  which  this 
narrative  has  nothing  to  do  but  only  with  those 
phases,  notably  in  Christian  Science,  which  per- 
tain to  man  and  his  relation  to  material  things 
of  this  life,  of  which  we  shall  have  some  concern. 

In  so  far  as  Christian  Science  generally  goes 
(particularly  as  regards  claims  of  healing)  I 
shall  pass  over  lightly  with  the  only  comment  that 
these  claims  are  based  on  Scripture  but  absurdly 
carried  out  to  a  point  at  variance  with  common 
sense  and  human  experience.  They  forget  that 
" Man's  extremity  is  God's  opportunity,"  and  we 
have  no  tangible  evidence  that  God  goes  out  of 
his  way  to  reward  the  lazy  or  put  a  premium  on 
ignorance. 

For  example,  sanitary  science  shows  that  ma- 
laria sufferers  are  cured  either  by  draining  the 
marshy  ground  on  which  they  live  or  by  their 
removal  from  it.  Yet  Christian  Science  ignores 
this  and  substitutes  a  formula  of  its  own — a  sub- 
stitute for  labor  and  self  help;  ignoring  the  fact 
that  labor  is  the  very  corner  stone  of  good  health. 
Exercise  to  the  human  body  is  what  use  is  to  a 
machine,  without  which  the  one  degenerates  into 
disease,  the  other  into  rust.  Nine-tenths  of  the 
diseases  of  the  human  body  start  in  those  tissues 


46  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

and  organs  that  are  little  used — in  the  lazy  organs. 
Christian  Science  puts  a  premium  on  laziness  by 
pretending  to  nullify  its  penalty. 

I  also  shall  pass  over  that  ostentatious  prom- 
enade of  wealth  which  characterizes  this  Church 
and  which  is  ignorantly  and  boastfully  put  for- 
ward (and  by  some  accepted)  as  undeniable  evi- 
dence of  Heavenly  favor.  To  me,  this  very  thing 
is  an  outward  evidence  of  spiritual  ill-health.  The 
richness  of  their  apparel,  the  contrast  of  their 
costly  folly  with  those  meagerly  clad  creatures 
of  the  slums,  would  appear  to  put  God  to  shame. 

It  is  indeed  sad  if  not  disgraceful  that  a  Church 
should  put  forward,  as  an  evidence  of  its  divine 
origin  and  favor,  its  worldly  wealth  and  that  sur- 
rounded by  poverty  and  want  on  every  hand.  So 
long  as  there  is  nakedness,  the  very  splendor  and 
luxury  of  which  Christian  Science  boasts  is  a 
crime.  It  is  a  crime  to  spend  months  of  labor  on 
a  jewel  when  the  same  time  and  energy  would 
have  covered  the  nakedness  of  many.  It  is  of 
little  avail  to  tell  us  that  by  spending  their  money 
on  diamonds  and  luxury  they  create  a  larger  op- 
portunity for  labor.  So  does  the  gopher  that 
destroys  the  farmer's  crops.  It  provides  extra 
work  but  not  profitable  work,  for  it  takes  labor 
that  could  be  employed  to  better  advantage  in 
other  departments  of  usefulness. 

After  all,  the  Christian  Scientists  may  be  wise 
in  their  generation  because  fine  raiment  and  fine 
equipages  are  constantly  under  human  eyes  and 
constantly  influence  human  senses.  The  masses 
of  people  usually  are  judges  of  these  because  they 
show  on  the  surface;  but  they  are    not    always 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  47 

judges  of  deeper  learning  and  morals,  the  things 
that  are  unseen. 

This  being  true,  milady  who  wears  so  much  fin- 
ery in  the  face  of  so  much  nakedness  is  not  unlike 
that  daughter  of  Eve  who  said:  "The  sense  of 
being  well  dressed  gives  me  a  feeling  of  inward 
tranquility  which  religion  is  powerless  to  bestow." 

Barnstable,  like  thousands  of  others,  was  at- 
tracted to  Christian  Science  for  reasons  of  "sup- 
ply". He  had  become  acquainted  with  instances, 
in  the  cases  of  others,  of  "beautiful  demonstra- 
tions" in  relation  to  business ;  in  fact,  he  was  quite 
convinced  that  Science  had  been  a  silent  factor 
in  his  latest  successes.  To  put  this  in  his  own 
words,  "there  is  something  uncanny  in  how  the 
market  has  come  my  way  since  I  took  up  Science. ' ' 

Healing,  contrary  to  the  prevailing  notion,  com- 
prises but  a  small  part  of  the  business  activities 
of  the  Christian  Science  Church.  Their  field  is 
"mind,  body  and  estate".  They  talk  very  much 
of  "mind"  but,  if  observations  be  not  misleading, 
their  chief  concern  is  "body  and  estate". 

Now  those  whose  chief  thought  and  delight  is 
the  adornment  of  the  mind  usually  are  those  who 
have  the  least  thought  of  the  adornment  of  the 
body.  The  advancement  from  savagery  to  civiliza- 
tion (at  least  from  the  lower  forms  of  the  one  to 
the  higher  forms  of  the  other)  is  marked  by  a 
diminution  of  ornamentation  of  the  body  and  of 
vain  show.  But  savagery  has  blazed  out  again 
in  this  modern  church.  To  the  scientific  eye,  it 
is  but  a  short  step  from  the  Hottentot  lady  with 
glittering  neck  pieces,  rings  in  her  nose  and  war 


48  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

paint  to  my  lady  of  the  celebrated  Ninety-sixth 
Street  Church,  New  York,  with  her  flashing  dia- 
monds, her  gilded  trappings  and  her  painted  face. 
The  real  woman,  whose  mind  is  in  tune  with  the 
Infinite  is  she  whose  chaste  and  encircling  orna- 
ment is  virtue,  whose  rubies  are  those  lips  that 
have  never  given  a  Judas  kiss,  whose  pearls  are 
the  teeth  that  stand  sentinel  over  falsehood  and 
slander,  whose  diamonds  are  eyes  that  flash  the 
varied  lights  of  the  windows  of  the  soul,  whose 
perfume  is  the  fragrance  wafted  from  the  garden 
of  a  heart  where  the  flowers  of  charity  bloom  and 
blossom  to  the  accompaniment  of  heavenly  music 
and  angels'  whispers. 

There  were  those  who  sincerely  believed  that 
Christian  Science  if  applied  generally  to  the  af- 
fairs of  men  afforded  a  solution  for  the  material 
problems  of  this  life  as  well  as  a  basis  for  claims 
on  the  life  to  come;  that  through  it  a  righteous 
economic  system  might  be  formed,  based  on  the 
spiritual,  which  would  in  time  promote  industrial 
and  economic  justice  everywhere. 

Poverty,  they  held,  was  a  disease  if  not  a  crime 
— and  they  had  the  remedy.  On  this  thesis  much 
of  their  structure  rested,  all  of  which  held  out 
hope,  in  fact  the  only  hope  in  so  far  as  the 
churches  were  concerned.  If  that  hope  were  ex- 
tinguished, if  religion  did  not  contain  the  solu- 
tion, then  to  whom  should  the  victims  of  oppres- 
sion and  injustice  look? 

But  in  Christian  Science  these  hopes  proved 
vain. 

The  reason   for  this   failure    (aside   from   its 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  49 

spiritual  aspect)  lay  in  the  fact  that  Christian 
Science  dealt  solely  with  distribution  instead  of 
with  production.  If  "treatments"  or  other  stim- 
ulating, comforting  and  encouraging  efforts 
brought  results  to  the  individual — if  his  "supply" 
was  in  this  way  increased  for  whatever  reason, 
whether  spiritual  or  material,  we  would  not  find 
that  a  corresponding  increase  in  production  had 
resulted  and  whatever  benefit  the  individual 
might  have  had  was  at  the  expense  of  somebody 
else  or  of  the  community  in  general. 

No  matter  what  fantastic  "results"  may  be 
claimed  in  regard  to  spiritual  healing,  these 
claims  even  if  untrue  would  be  difficult  to  dis- 
prove. Although  we  might  have  every  reason  to 
suspect  the  unrighteous  nature  of  the  claim,  we 
would  be  as  helpless  to  disprove  it  to  a  demon- 
stration as  we  would  be  to  deny  the  claim  of  a 
quack  that  his  pill  had  brought  help  to  an  afflicted 
one.  This  is  true  for  the  reason  that  the  majority 
of  people  get  well  anyway,  with  or  without  treat- 
ment. For  this  reason,  the  quack  and  the  Chris- 
tian Scientist  alike  always  will  be  on  safe  ground. 
We  never  will  know,  never  can  know,  definitely 
to  the  contrary,  if  their  claims  are  true  or  untrue. 
The  same  thing  also  applies  to  the  treatments 
Science  gives  to  business,  especially  the  particular 
classes  of  business  that  come  within  their  active 
sphere. 

But  the  real  test  should  come  when  Christian 
Science  enters  the  field  of  the  real  basis  of 
wealth — Production.  As  has  been  stated,  their 
activities  have  been  confined  to  distribution — in 
other  words,  to  those  who  live  off  Production,  not 


50  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

distributors  as  a  class  but  individuals  of  that 
class.  They  might  show,  for  instance,  that  by 
the  working  out  of  some  supernatural  formula, 
Science  has  increased  the  prosperity  of  the  indi- 
vidual (although  this  might  be  difficult  to  prove 
or  disprove)  but  would  it  be  possible  for  them  to 
show  the  farmer  how  to  grow  a  better  field  of 
corn  than  his  non-Science  neighbor,  all  conditions 
being  equal,  unless  by  reason  of  extra  work  and 
greater  attention?  The  perplexed  Brockton 
shoe  manufacturer  might  be  deluded  that  their 
system  of  treatment  had  done  wonders  for  him 
but  how  would  it  act  with  any  one  of  the  thousand 
workers  operating  his  machines,  they  themselves 
being  machines,  living  at  just  enough  to  keep  soul 
and  body  together?  Could  they  add  any  more 
revolutions  to  these  machines  or  anything  to 
their  productivity?  Even  if  they  did  succeed  in 
doing  this,  could  they  add  anything  to  the  stature 
of  the  whole  business  that  would  not  eventually 
go  into  the  pocket  of  some  one  else? — for  instance, 
of  the  class  of  which  frequents  the  Christian 
Science  Church,  the  class  known  as  non-producers? 
It  is  quite  true  that  through  the  advice  of  a 
Practitioner  a  worker  might  be  induced  to  give 
up  his  mill  job  for  something  easier  and  more 
remunerative.  For  example,  he  might  be  induced 
to  change  from  worker  to  broker,  thus  converting 
the  honey  bee  of  the  hive  into  a  beautiful  drone ; 
but  in  so  doing  he  would  have  reduced  Pro- 
duction (the  real  basis  of  wealth)  by  taking  away 
one  man's  labor  and  we  would  have  one  more 
parasite  added  to  that  class  which  lives  off  Pro- 
duction, the  distributors. 


THE   WORLD   IN   1931  51 

Christian  Science,  therefore,  does  not  furnish 
a  moral  philosophy  which  extends  down  to  the 
foundation  of  poverty  and  unjust  inequality  but 
contents  itself  with  catering  to  and  being  sup- 
ported by  that  class  which  " lives  in  the  cream," 
whose  continued  fatness  and  well-being  depend  so 
much  upon  the  perpetuation  of  a  System  that 
makes  certain  the  hovel  and  the  castle,  the  rich 
and  the  poor,  the  master  and  the  slave. 


CHAPTER  III 

How  kind  is  Destiny — and  as  just  as  it  is  kind ! 
It  veils  the  future,  holding  behind  an  impenetrable 
shadow  the  doom  and  the  reward  of  high  and 
low  alike. 

As  our  ship  sped  onward  how  few  of  us  saw 
even  the  shadow,  drawn  curtain-like  across  our 
path,  much  less  the  Hand  that  never  falters  as 
it  beckons  Humanity  on  toward  that  which  God 
appoints  or  Fates  decree  when  the  supreme  die 
is  cast. 

Those  who  looked  into  the  future  (with  but 
few  exceptions)  saw  only  the  past  in  which  the 
black  shadows  of  a  wrecked  and  ruined  world 
spread  themselves  out  before  us.  But  the  past 
no  longer  had  power  to  speak  for  the  present  or 
the  future.  It  was  inarticulate,  dead;  could  no 
longer  point  the  way. 

Strange  is  Man — never  of  the  present;  always 
of  the  past  and  future  but  mostly  of  the  past. 
With  him  it  is  what  has  been,  not  that  all  im- 
portant thing  what  is  now,  much  less  what  will  be; 
not  how  rich  he  is  today  but  how  rich  he  will  be 
tomorrow  or  (with  a  vain  regret)  how  rich  he 
was  yesterday.  When  old  age  shall  become  as 
wise  as  little  children  we  will,  like  little  children, 
value  and  enjoy  the  present,  forget  the  dead  and 
buried  past,  live  happily  for  a  certain  today  and 
a  possible  tomorrow.  This  is  the  evil  of  great 
fortunes — they  are  created  by  their  owners  not 
for  today  but  for  tomorrow,  carrying  forward 
into  the  future  those  things  which  were  intended 

52 


THE    WORLD   IN   1931  53 

for  the  present  necessity  and  full  enjoyment  of 
mankind. 

On  the  day  that  was  just  dawning,  the  world 
lay  pale  and  prostrate,  writhing  in  those  agonies 
that  mysterious  Nature  has  ordained  as  a  penalty 
for  transgressions  of  her  laws,  agonies  increasing 
in  terribleness  as  we  ascend  the  scale  of  civiliza- 
tion. Even  then  the  mother  world  was  undergo- 
ing the  pangs  of  a  new  birth  in  which  the  mother 
might  pass  away  and  the  offspring  alone  live,  or 
both  might  live,  or  both  might  pass  away.  How 
long  the  anguish  might  continue,  no  one  knew.  It 
might  be  months  or  years.  Or  it  might  end  be- 
fore we  reached  the  other  side  of  the  ocean. 

There  were  those  who,  for  their  own  selfish 
reasons,  desired  that  the  mother  might  live  and 
that  the  offspring  might  die ;  and  there  were  those 
who  awaited  only  the  coming  of  a  new  child  who 
would  inherit  the  earth  in  the  name  of  all  the 
children  of  men.  But  while  the  patient  suffered 
and  world  doctors  contended,  how  few  of  the  mil- 
lions of  mortals  who  awaited  the  result  really 
appreciated  the  meaning  of  the  convulsion ! 

Barnstable  had  little  comprehension  of  what 
the  outcome  would  mean  to  his  Wall  Street  sys- 
tem; nor  did  Mrs.  Barnstable  have  the  remotest 
thought  of  what  it  would  mean  to  her  pink  teas 
and  to  her  exclusive  church  functions. 

The  Flapper  with  her  short  skirts  and  bobbed 
hair  flirted  on  as  gayly  and  obliviously  as  though 
the  income  from  her  uncle's  estate  would  go  on 
forever. 

The  " diplomatic  looking"  real  estate  man  con- 
tinued  to   flirt  with   the   blonde,    secure   in   the 


54  THE    WORLD   IN   1931 

thought  of  his  $50,000  in  bonds  and  his  $3,000  a 
year  for  life. 

Jim  Owens,  sprawled  out  lazily  in  a  hotel  easy 
chair  back  in  Southern  California,  still  had  his 
faith  in  first  mortgage  bonds  unshaken. 

The  Christian  Science  Church,  from  its  temple 
of  burnished  gold  and  polished  marble,  reported 
"All's  well  with  the  world;" — while  the  lowly 
stoker  down  in  the  big  ship's  hold,  drenched  in 
slime  and  steam,  glistening  like  a  gladiator  in 
deadly  combat  in  the  blaze  of  hell's  mouth,  had 
not  the  time  in  which  to  contemplate  the  prospect. 

But  one  man  moved  silently  amongst  us  who 
had  a  care.  He  was  neither  young  nor  old — per- 
haps on  the  maturer  side  of  forty,  yet  at  times 
and  in  certain  moods  he  looked  a  boy  of  twenty. 
For  several  days  out  he  communicated  with  no 
one,  but  all  were  aware  of  his  presence.  Men  and 
women  alike  instinctively  turned  and  followed 
him  with  their  eyes  as  he  came  and  went. 

"With  grave 
Aspect  he  rose,  and  in  his  rising  seemed 
A  pillar  of  state;  deep  on  his  front  engraven 
Deliberation  set,  and  public  care; 
And  princely  counselor  in  his  face  yet  shone 
Majestic,  though  in  ruin.     Sage  he  stood, 
"With  Atlantean  shoulders,  fit  to  bear 
The  weight  of  mightiest  monarchies ;  his  look 
Brought  audience  and  attention  still  as  night 
Or  summer's  noontide  air." 

There  was  more  of  power  and  dignity  than  of 
happiness  in  his  face,  yet  at  times  when  the  black- 


THE   WORLD    IN   1931  55 

ness  of  a  mental  storm  had  passed  his  face  was 
as  serenely  beautiful  as  a  starlit  sky.  Beautiful 
in  serenity,  beautiful  in  expression,  beautiful  in 
tranquility  and  beautiful  in  manly  dignity. 

Paul  David  was  an  Australian  by  birth;  a 
writer  and  thinker  by  occupation.  His  father 
was  an  Englishman;  his  mother  a  famous  Irish 
beauty,  which  accounted  for  the  rare  black  hair, 
blue  gray  eyes  and  skin  that  was  the  envy  and 
admiration  of  many  a  woman.  But  there  was 
something  about  him  which  his  English  or  Irish 
ancestry  could  not  account  for — whether  of  man- 
ner or  of  appearance  it  was  difficult  to  determine ; 
you  first  would  credit  it  to  one,  then  to  the  other. 
Those  who  professed  to  know  the  secret  whispered 
the  story  that  a  great-great-grandmother  on 
his  father's  side  was  a  French  woman  with  a 
sprinkling  of  Jewish  blood. 

World-traveler,  student  and  lover  of  his  kind, 
Paul  David  many  years  ago  had  investigated,  at 
his  own  expense,  the  mines  and  factories  of  Aus- 
tralia, America  and  Great  Britain.  Since  then, 
owing  to  the  horror  of  what  he  saw,  he  had  placed 
his  entire  time,  his  talents  and  his  ample  means 
at  the  disposal  of  those  forces  which  were  battling 
for  the  emancipation  of  the  slave  in  industry, 
without  distinction  of  color,  race  or  nationality. 
At  least  a  part  of  his  preoccupation,  it  was  soon 
learned  by  those  on  board,  was  due  to  the  fact  he 
was  writing  the  final  chapters  of  his  newest  book, 
entitled  "The  Great  War:  Its  Causes  and  Its  Les- 
sons." 

As  the  trip  was  to  be  long,  the  entertainment 
committee   in   its   endeavor   to   furnish   suitable 


56  THE   WOELD    IN    1931 

talent  for  a  considerable  number  of  evenings  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  inviting  Paul  David  to  deliver 
an  address.  Extreme  modesty  at  first  made  him 
reluctant  to  accept,  but  after  some  persuasion  he 
consented,  the  only  stipulation  being  that  all 
classes  of  passengers  might  be  present  and  that 
he  might  choose  his  own  subject.  This  was  readily 
granted  and  when  the  scheduled  evening  arrived 
every  seat  in  the  Grand  Salon  was  occupied. 
After  an  appropriate  introduction,  the  speaker 
began : 
"My  Friends: 

"No  matter  what  part  of  the  world  I  may  be 
in,  or  whatever  the  occasion,  I  am  always  pleased 
to  address  an  audience  on  any  subject  on  which 
I  may  be  deemed  competent  to  speak;  but  that 
pleasure  is  enhanced  tonight  for  I  see  before  me 
the  audience  of  my  dreams,  that  audience  which 
above  all  others  is  most  pleasing  to  my  heart 
and  soul — an  international  audience — children  of 
nearly  every  clime  and  tongue,  yet  all  here  happily 
resting  on  the  bosom  of  Mother  Ocean,  to  the 
peaceful  lullaby  of  the  wind  and  stars. 

"From  Land  torn  by  strife,  we  have  returned 
again  for  rest  and  healing  to  that  great  interna- 
tional mother,  the  Ocean,  of  whom  I  would  speak 
tonight : 

"Had  I  the  naming  of  the  location  for  a  world- 
court,  where  great  questions  would  be  weighed 
and  balanced,  I  should  place  that  august  edifice 
on  an  eminence  overlooking  the  Ocean,  in  full 
view  of  that  mighty  deep  which  represents  in 
finite  form  the  majesty  and  grandeur  of  the  In- 
finite. 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  57 

"To  these  men  of  all  nations,  the  Ocean  would 
speak  a  language  all  its  own.  Its  moans  and 
sighs  would  be  the  myriad  voices  of  Humanity 
rising  in  protest  against  tyranny  and  injustice; 
its  mists  and  sprays  would  be  the  symbol  of  tears 
of  mothers  and  fathers,  widows  and  orphans — 
victims  of  the  lust  and  greed  and  the  ambitions  of 
those  who  control  the  destiny  of  States.  Its 
mighty  forces  let  loose  in  storm — its  roar,  its 
crashing  waves,  its  frowning  darkness,  to  eyes 
that  see  and  ears  that  hear,  would  be  both  symbol 
and  warning  of  the  frenzy  and  power  of  an  en- 
raged people,  goaded  to  desperation  or  given  up 
to  despair. 

"Who  has  not  seen  in  the  dark,  sullen  waves, 
tossing  in  titanic  struggle,  the  ghastly  faces  of 
the  mob — in  the  French  Reign  of  Terror,  on  Bos- 
ton Common  or  elsewhere  portrayed  on  a  thou- 
sand pages  of  history! 

"These  men  of  the  nations  would  see  also  in 
the  Ocean  a  symbol  of  Peace.  To  them  by  day  it 
would  be  one  silvery  band,  be  jeweled  with  myriads 
of  flashing  diamonds  and  emeralds,  joining  the 
nations  of  the  world  in  one  common  bond;  by 
night  reflecting  the  glory  of  the  stars. 

"Who  then,  be  he  editor,  priest  or  statesman, 
can  stand  on  the  shore  of  the  eternal  sea  and  hear 
its  music,  see  its  ever  changing  beauty,  con- 
template its  boundaries  and  measure  its  terrestrial 
heights  and  depths  without  being  transported 
from  that  which  is  mean  and  low  to  that  which 
is  grand  and  high — no  longer  (save  in  name  only) 
a  citizen  of  a  city,  a  province  or  a  nation  but  be- 
longing to  all  mankind. 


58  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

"It  is  only  in  such  moods  that  we  may  correctly 
interpret  those  mysterious  human  forces  which 
know  no  boundaries  and  which  hold  all  mankind 
in  their  sway.  We  then  see  in  history  little  more 
and  little  less  than  a  record  of  the  crimes  and 
calamities  of  Mankind,  not  the  crimes  and  mis- 
fortunes of  one  country  alone,  but  of  all  the  coun- 
tries that  make  up  the  human  race.  We  then 
know  and  understand  that  Truth  is  not  eternally 
on  one  side  of  a  river  or  national  frontier  and 
Error  perpetually  on  the  other.  We  then  under- 
stand, and  charitably  too,  that  men  are  the  puny 
products  of  environment,  often  unable  to  raise 
themselves  above  the  common  ideas  and  opinions 
of  their  kind. 

"So  when  men  reach  the  stature  of  true  man- 
hood, as  measured  by  the  broad  standards  of  the 
all-encircling  Ocean,  they  will  cease  to  be  Aus- 
tralians, Canadians,  Englishmen  or  Americans 
and  will  become  truly  Citizens  of  the  World. 
They  will  discard  forever  'My  country,  right  or 
wrong!'  and  will  substitute  for  that  monstrous 
motto  the  imperishable  words  of  that  great  infidel, 
who  was  more  faithful  in  the  cause  of  Truth  than 
millions  of  his  traducers:  'The  world  is  my 
country;  to  do  good  my  religion.'  It  is  only  by 
climbing  to  such  mental  and  spiritual  heights  that 
Man  can  qualify  for  the  great  task  of  world  re- 
construction. 

"Of  course,  men  must  be  born  somewhere  and 
each  individual,  for  some  time  to  come  at  least, 
will  in  a  measure  reflect  his  national  surround- 
ings. I,  for  instance,  am  a  native  born  Australian 
of  English-Irish  parentage  or,  more  strictly  speak- 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  59 

ing,  Englisk-Irisk-Scotch  parentage,  there  being 
Scotch  blood  in  my  mother's  veins. 

"Naturally,  by  reason  of  birth,  I  should  be  a 
patriotic  Australian,  but  to  be  a  patriotic  Aus- 
tralian, as  a  patriotic  Canadian,  one  must  possess 
and  show  on  all  occasions  an  exuberance  of  love 
for  the  motherland — in  fact,  one  must  be  more 
English  than  the  English.  Even  as  a  schoolboy, 
the  history,  traditions,  purposes  and  aims  of  the 
Old  Lady  of  Threadneedle  Street  failed  to  inspire 
in  me  any  such  sentimental  convulsions. 

"An  acute  observer,  however,  might  point  to 
my  rather  mixed  ancestry  and  conclude  with  di- 
rectness and  rare  insight  that  in  each  other 
national  characteristic  I  am  painfully  true  to 
type :  for  is  it  not  said  of  the  Irishman  that  every 
time  he  opens  his  mouth,  he  puts  his  foot  in  it; 
of  the  Scotchman  that  he  keeps  the  Sabbath  and 
everything  else  he  can  lay  his  hands  on  (against 
which  libel  I  humbly  protest),  and  lastly,  'that 
you  can  always  tell  an  Englishman — but  not 
much. '  I  thank  heaven  tonight  that  I  belong  to  no 
nation — but  to  you  all.  We  are  all  brothers  and 
sisters,  regardless  of  our  color,  creed  or  national- 
ity. We  have  a  common  Father,  a  common 
Saviour  and  a  common  destiny. 

"Animated  by  this  sentiment,  who  can  read 
without  protest,  if  not  revulsion  (unless  he  be 
saturated  with  the  virus  of  jingoistic  nationalism) 
such  words,  uttered  in  flaunting  pride,  as  these : 

'Walk  wide  of  the  Widow  at  Windsor, 

For  half  of  creation  she  owns. 
We  have  bought  her  the  same,  with  the  sword 
and  the  flame. 

And  have  salted  it  down  with  our  bones ! ' 


60  THE   WOELD   IN   1931 

"Never  was  a  nation  so  scathingly  indicted  by- 
one  of  its  own,  yet  seeking  only  the  applause  of 
his  kind,  we  see  this  human  Jackal  follow  in  the 
wake  of  the  Lion,  waxing  exultant  as  he  hears  the 
crunching  of  human  bones,  as  he  traces  the  bloody 
trail  of  the  beast  around  the  world.  Infamy 
exalted — bleached  piratical  bones  on  the  plains 
and  in  the  hills  glorified  as  monuments  to  virtue — 
the  sword  raised  high  above  the  cross — the  flame 
supplanting  the  still  small  voice. 

"How  often  have  I  seen  Australians  exult  at 
the  Lion's  prowess  and  glory  in  his  gory  con- 
quests— but  behold  how  dearly  they  have  paid  for 
their  devotions  at  Baal's  shrine! 

"My  friends,  the  man  who  invented  a  flag  in- 
vented an  idol ;  the  men  who  conceived  patriotism 
conceived  idol  worship.  Around  these  national 
idols  the  ground  is  soaked  and  encrusted  with 
human  blood  to  the  very  depths.  At  the  feet  of 
these  grinning  monsters  are  the  skulls  of  millions 
of  the  victims  of  an  insane  delusion. 

1 1  There  is  talk  of  disarmament  to  prevent  war ; 
that  is  good.  But  I  say,  first  of  all  destroy  the 
spirit  of  war,  destroy  your  idols,  and  your  arma- 
ments will  turn  to  rust. 

"I  have  English  blood  in  my  veins  and  I  love 
America,  yet  I  tell  you  tonight  that  the  two  great- 
est menaces  to  the  peace  of  the  world  today  are 
British  Imperialism  and  so-called  Americanism. 
The  doctrine  of  the  one  is  greed  and  of  the  other 
selfishness,  each  of  which  is  propagated  and  sup-, 
ported  by  false  patriotism  and  the  meanest  in- 
stincts that  can  degrade  and  debase  a  people. 
One   represents   the  bully,  the   other   the  moral 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  61 

coward.  One  says  'We  have  the  ships,  we  have 
the  men,  we  have  the  money,  too'  and  goes  out 
to  conquer  and  subjugate.  The  other  says,  'I 
have  the  natural  wealth  of  the  world,  great 
natural  and  strategic  advantages,  and  I  mean  to 
keep  them  for  myself  and  proceeds  to  barricade 
itself  against  the  rest  of  the  world — even  as 
though  the  Lord  Almighty  had  made  the  new 
hemisphere  and  the  richness  thereof  for  the  ex- 
clusive use  of  those  who  happened  to  be  the  first 
to  take  possession. 

"  America  stands  today  a  great  giant  in  the 
West  with  the  noblest  of  Missions  to  mankind ;  yet 
a  sacrifice  to  the  mean,  low  and  selfish  ends  an- 
nounced and  practiced  by  her  leaders.  'America 
First!'  is  the  motto  by  which  they  announce  to 
all  the  world  that  they  mean  to  be  the  beginning 
and  the  end  of  all  they  do ;  that  their  chief  aim  in 
life  is  their  own  advantage ;  that  self  is  their  God 
and  their  people  its  worshipers. 

"Such  leadership  is  like  the  leper's  scourge 
which  in  time  corrupts  the  body,  blinds  the  eyes 
and  eats  out  the  heart  but,  though  heartless, 
blinded  and  corrupt,  receives  neither  sympathy 
from  men,  pity  from  angels  nor  favor  from  God. 
Such  leadership,  my  friends,  needs  an  awaken- 
ing— and  may  Heaven  speed  the  day." 

Embarrassed  silence,  then  generous  applause, 
followed  the  speaker  as  he  left  the  platform.  Be- 
fore the  applause  had  died  away,  a  young  woman, 
who  had  been  observed  taking  shorthand  notes 
during  the  address,  seated  herself  at  the  piano 
and  softly  played  the  opening  bars  of  "Rocked 
in  the  Cradle  of  the  Deep."    From  the  audience 


62  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

a  young  man  stepped  to  her  side  and,  in  a  musical 
bass  voice,  began  the  words  of  that  beautiful  old 
song.  One  after  another  of  the  audience  joined 
in  until  the  whole  ship  reverberated  to  the  charm- 
ing melody  that  has  on  land  and  sea  moved  multi- 
tudes. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  song,  the  young  couple 
on  the  platform  clasped  hands,  in  silence.  The 
audience,  some  with  moist  eyes,  quickly  dis- 
persed— many  to  points  of  vantage  where  they 
could  better  view  the  ocean,  realizing  for  the  first 
time  that  there  was  something  they  had  missed, 
remaining  for  hours  as  though  lost  in  thought; 
others  took  a  hasty  glance  and  then  retreated  to 
their  card  tables  and  other  amusements. 

The  night  was  beautiful  and  calm.  Not  a  cloud 
flecked  the  sky.  The  moon  was  nearly  at  its  full 
and  the  stars  never  were  more  numerous  or  more 
glorious. 

A  group  of  passengers  was  being  entertained 
and  enlightened  by  an  astronomer  as  he  pointed 
out  the  great  stars,  the  constellations  and  the 
nebulae,  naming  them  in  turn.  He  dwelt  on  the 
distances  from  star  to  star  and  immensity  of 
space  even  within  the  limits  of  a  single  constella- 
tion, venturing  the  information  that  a  certain 
nebula  in  the  constellation  of  Orion  (then  visible 
to  the  naked  eye)  was  a  million  times  as  large  as 
the  Earth's  orbit  around  the  Sun  and  that  even 
the  millions  of  tiny  specks  we  are  pleased  to  call 
nebulae,  themselves  may  be  planets  each  millions 
of  times  larger  than  our  own  Sun — at  which  one 
of  the  listeners  exclaimed  fervently:  "If  this  all 
is  true,  what  a  tiny  speck  our  Earth  is  and  we  are 
nothing!" 


THE    WORLD    IX    1931  63 

At  that  precise  moment  Mrs.  Barnstable  passed. 
Head  tilted  high  in  the  air,  every  motion  indicated 
that  she  was  animated  solely  by  the  exuberance  of 
her  own  importance.  Then,  the  inevitable  hap- 
pened. Under  the  spell  of  the  night  and  the  con- 
templation of  the  stars,  the  little  group  had 
become  serious — but,  focusing  their  eyes  on  this 
Boston  luminary,  came  back  to  earth  again  and 
all  with  one  accord  broke  into  a  merry  laugh. 

Thus  did  Mrs.  Barnstable  perform  a  service, 
even  to  the  point  of  justifying  her  existence ;  for 
was  she  not  the  humorous  object  which  may  have 
prevented  a  weak  minded  mortal  from  going  crazy 
as  a  result  of  brain  strain  from  too  rapt  con- 
templation of  the  immensity  of  space ! — the  weak- 
ling finite  trying  to  measure  the  mighty  Infinite! 

On  the  day  following,  there  were  four  leading 
topics  of  discussion  on  board  the  ship — the  ocean 
and  the  heavens,  but  principally  Paul  David  and 
his  speech.  One  and  all  wanted  to  hear  him 
again. 

It  was  suggested  by  some  that  they  subscribe 
a  substantial  amount  to  pay  for  a  course  of  lec- 
tures to  be  delivered  nightly  during  the  remainder 
of  the  voyage.  Others  felt  that  such  an  offer 
would  definitely  remove  any  chance  of  his  accept- 
ance. Among  the  latter  were  Miss  Mary  Vernon 
who,  on  the  previous  evening  had  presided  at  the 
piano,  and  Richard  Collier  whose  pleasing  bass 
voice  had  led  the  singing. 

After  some  debate,  it  was  agreed  that  Miss 
Vernon,  accompanied  by  Collier,  call  on  Mr.  David 
and  arrange,  if  possible,  a  series  of  addresses  on 
whatever  subjects  he  might  be  pleased  to  talk. 


64  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  committee  was 
received  cordially.  After  the  formality  of  intro- 
ductions, Miss  Vernon  (womanlike)  approached 
the  purpose  of  their  visit  obliquely. 

' '  Mr:  David, ' '  she  said  with  a  reminiscent,  half- 
humorous  air,  "I  want  to  read  you  a  wonderful 
tribute  to  the  Ocean — the  best  that  has  ever  been 
written  in  any  language.  I  feel  sure  of  this  be- 
cause I  wrote  it  myself — in  shorthand." 

Gravely  she  began  reading  from  her  notebook 
sections  of  the  address  which  he  himself  had  de- 
livered the  night  before.  When  she  had  finished, 
David  viewed  the  young  woman  critically  and 
with  deliberation  said : 

"Miss  Vernon,  you  are  not  only  an  exquisite 
musician  and  a  beautiful  singer,  but  you  are  also 
a  consummate  actress.    What  is  it  you  desire?" 

Mary  Vernon  blushed  and,  strange  to  relate, 
Richard  Collier  both  beamed  and  blushed.  Then, 
their  mission  explained,  Mr.  David  continued: 

"What  particular  subject  or  subjects  would 
you  like  to  hear  discussed — the  stars  or  the  latest 
fashions  in  gowns?" 

"Neither,"  replied  Miss  Vernon.  "As  to  the 
stars,  for  the  present  I  would  rather  see  them 
than  hear  about  them  and  as  for  the  fashions  I 
have  no  further  interest  in  them  as  I  am  on  my 
way  to  become  a  welfare  worker  in  an  out-of-the- 
way  South  Pacific  Island  where  the  fashions  will 
be  of  little  use  to  me  and  when  I  return,  if  ever, 
the  mode  will  have  changed  many  times. ' ' 

Over  the  serious  face  of  Paul  David  came  a 
look  of  surprise,  but  his  eyes  voiced  undeniable 
approval  as  the  future  plans  of  Mary  Vernon 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  65 

were  thus  subtly  revealed.  The  information  af- 
fected Richard  Collier  differently,  however,  for 
though  he  looked  his  surprise  there  was  that  in 
his  expression  which  bespoke  a  deeper  interest 
(not  to  say  disappointment)  which  by  rare  self- 
control  he  struggled  bravely  to  conceal.  Wholly 
unconscious  of  the  effect  her  naive  announcement 
had  produced  in  her  two  companions,  Mary  Ver- 
non continued: 

"It  is  generally  known  that  you  are  completing 
a  book  which  deals  with  the  world  war — its  causes 
and  its  lessons.  These  subjects  would  interest  me 
greatly  and  I  am  sure  they  are  of  interest  to 
everyone  else.  Not  the  heroic  stories  of  the  war — 
of  them  we  have  had  enough — but  the  honest  truth 
about  the  guilt  of  starting  the  war  and  more  espe- 
cially what  is  keeping  the  world  from  peace.  Re- 
cent events  lead  one  to  question  and  doubt.  Has 
it  all  been  in  vain?  Suspicions  and  disturbing 
facts  are  coming  to  the  surface.  Have  we  been 
the  victims  of  lies  and  deceit.  I  believe  you  have 
something  encouraging  to  tell.  The  boys  who 
went  over  came  back  and  are  silent.  What  are 
they  keeping  back?  How  do  they  feel?  "What 
do  they  know?" 

Paul  David  said  nothing  for  Mary  Vernon  had 
turned  to  Richard  Collier.  Her  pause  indicated 
that  she  expected  an  answer — his  answer. 

"Yes,"  he  said,  somewhat  embarrassed,  "I  am 
one  of  the  boys  who  crossed  the  water  and  came 
back.  I  was  a  member  of  America's  first  overseas 
contingent.  I  remained  abroad  until  after  the 
armistice  was  signed.  I  saw  everything  that  was 
possible  for  a  soldier  to  see — camp  life  and  fight- 


66  THE   WORLD   IN   1931 

ing,  but  nothing  that  was  exciting  or  spectacular. 
The  enemy  was  for  the  most  part  unseen.  There 
were  those  of  us  who  did  not  see  a  German  soldier 
for  weeks  at  a  time,  except  as  the  prisoners  were 
brought  in.  We  pounded  away  hit  or  miss,  as  in 
the  dark. 

"The  reason  our  returned  soldiers  say  noth- 
ing is  that  they  have  nothing  to  tell — aside  from 
incidents.  The  average  soldier  knows  nothing  of 
the  responsibility  for  starting  the  war — knows 
nothing  of  the  so-called  atrocities  or  blood- 
curdling and  fantastic  stories  that  the  home  folks 
were  fed  on.  But  he  does  know,  and  every  enemy 
soldier  knows,  the  inhuman  and  beastly  things 
that  occur  in  the  camp  on  both  sides  of  the  firing 
line.  He  is  silent  because  he  does  not  wish  to 
give  the  lie  to  his  country's  propaganda — either 
that  or  he  desires  to  pose  as  a  silent  hero." 

During  Mary  Vernon's  plea  and  Collier's  con- 
fession, Paul  David's  face  was  a  study.  He 
seemed  stirred  to  his  soul's  depths.  In  a  quarter 
least  expected,  he  had  found  his  war  views  vindi- 
cated. Yet  he  had  heard  nothing  new — all  this 
and  a  thousand  times  more  he  had  known  for 
years. 

But  was  the  world  at  last  ready  for  the  truth — 
the  truth  for  which  Mary  Vernon  was  pleading — 
the  truth  to  which  Eichard  Collier  was  willing  to 
testify?  Was  mankind  at  last  ready  to  accept 
its  freedom — in  the  only  way  that  true  freedom 
can  come :  '  *  Know  the  Truth  and  the  Truth  shall 
make  you  free"? 

Paul  David  believed  that  it  was  .  .  .  and  so 
he  gave  his  consent  to  speak,  not  once  but  many 


THE   WORLD   IN   1931  67 

times  during  the  remainder  of  the  voyage.  As  yet, 
only  two  of  his  fellow  passengers  had  glimpsed 
the  tremendous  import  of  the  revelations  to  be 
made — Mary  Vernon  who  had  dared  to  know  and 
Richard  Collier  who  had  dared  to  tell! 

There  is  one  important  thing  that  must  be  said 
of  Mary  Vernon — a  very  important  thing.  She 
was  a  very  beautiful  girl,  but  (more  important 
still)  she  was  no  more  conscious  of  her  beauty 
than  a  lily  or  a  rose.  Few  had  more  reason  to 
stand  before  the  mirror  in  self-admiration  than 
she,  yet  none  there  were  who  knew  a  mirror  less. 

It  is  said  that  beauty  is  the  first  gift  nature 
bestows  upon  woman — and  the  first  to  be  taken 
away.  But  with  Mary  Vernon,  beauty  was  not  a 
gift  for  the  reason  that  Mary  Vernon  was  beauty 
itself.  She  had  the  beauty  of  youth,  the  beauty  of 
virtue,  the  beauty  of  truth.  There  was  but  one 
beauty  she  had  not  yet  attained  to — the  beauty 
of  age — but  even  this  was  assured  her,  condi- 
tionally of  course,  and  Mary  Vernon  was  living 
each  day  as  though  to  win  that  prize,  for — 

"She  walked  in  beauty  like  the  night 
Of  cloudless  climes  and  starry  skies ; 

And  all  that's  best  of  dark  and  bright 
Met  in  her  aspect  and  her  eyes ; 

Thus  mellowed  to  that  tender  light 
Which  Heaven  to  gaudy  day  denies." 

Perhaps  one  of  the  prettiest  tributes  ever  paid 
a  girl  was  uttered  by  her  guardian  on  the  day 
Mary  Vernon  arrived  at  her  twenty-first  year. 
After   a   moment    of   affectionate    contemplation 


68  THE    WORLD   IN   1931 

from  across  the  room,  lie  remarked  to  an  old 
friend : 

"The  fortunate  young  man  who  carries  Mary 
Vernon  away  in  marriage  will  think  he  has  a 
jewel,  but  he  will  soon  discover  that  he  also  has  a 
treasure." 

To  describe  the  physical  aspect  of  Miss  Vernon 
is  to  attempt  the  impossible,  for  any  word  descrip- 
tion fails  to  convey  a  proper  mental  picture.  I 
might  tell  you  that  she  had  a  wealth  of  raven 
hair,  teeth  like  pearls,  cheeks  like  the  dawning 
day  and  a  carriage  like  the  queen  of  the  forest — 
but  this  description,  although  true,  would  apply 
to  thousands.  Therefore,  I  will  have  you,  my 
reader,  make  your  own  mental  picture  and  what- 
ever that  picture  may  be,  if  it  is  beautiful,  it 
will  be  Mary  Vernon.  How  could  it  be  otherwise, 
for  do  we  not  disagree  before  the  master  paint- 
ing, even  as  before  the  flesh  and  blood  itself ! 
As  we  view  the  rose  in  the  garden,  do  we  not  all 
see  it  differently?  One  sees  it  adorning  a  hat 
in  a  millinery  show  room — another,  gracing  a 
banquet  table.  One  sees  only  the  possible  worm 
at  its  heart,  while  another,  thanks  to  God,  sees 
in  its  blush  of  innocence  the  red  lips  of  heavenly 
spirits  opening  to  kiss  the  morning  dew;  or  the 
crimson  blush  as  on  an  eastern  sky  announcing 
the  dawn  of  a  new  day  for  the  world. 

When  Mary  was  but  a  child  of  twelve  her 
mother  died  and  her  father  before  she  had  reached 
her  fifteenth  year.  Provisions  were  made  for 
her  education  and  ample  funds  were  left  in  trust 
to  provide  a  life  income — sufficient  but  not  exces- 
sive.   From  her  seventeenth  year  to  her  twentieth 


THE   WORLD   IN    1931  69 

she  attended  an  Eastern  University.  Following 
this  (as  an  extra  precaution),  she  took  a  short 
business  course  and  became  very  proficient  in 
shorthand.  Thereafter,  she  spent  four  years  in 
community  service  work  in  New  York  City. 

Caring  little  for  society,  Mary  Vernon's  chief 
pleasure  and  enjoyment  was  derived  from  minis- 
tering to  the  sick  and  destitute  in  the  great  lower 
East  Side.  Here  she  met  those  grim  monsters, 
Disease  and  Poverty,  and  on  their  own  ground 
heroically  fought  them  as  best  she  could— fre- 
quently sick  at  heart,  utterly  discouraged  and 
almost  beaten  to  the  ground,  but  each  day  return- 
ing to  the  unequal  contest  with  fresh  courage  and 
unconquerable  determination.  Here  she  studied 
social  and  economic  conditions  and  acquired  well- 
informed  opinions  of  her  own  as  to  the  causes 
of  poverty. 

Those  who  knew  Mary  Vernon  well  would  have 
smiled  none  too  hopefully  at  the  obvious  attentions 
of  even  so  eligible  and  serious  minded  a  young 
man  as  Richard  Collier  of  Chicago,  even  though 
Richard  Collier  were  "a  gentleman  and  a 
scholar,"  a  man  of  means,  desirable  and  eligible 
in  every  way  for  the  choicest  of  America's  fair 
daughters.  And,  let  it  be  said,  young  Collier  was 
all  this— which  is  saying  a  great  deal,  unless  in 
fiction. 

In  the  great  firm  of  Collier  &  Co.,  chemical 
manufacturers,  an  important  executive  had  died, 
and  Richard  Collier  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  had  been  called  to  fill  his 
place.  The  decision  was  made  on  its  merits.  Col- 
lier  was    well   fitted    for   the    position,   barring 


70  THE   WORLD   IN   1931 

experience,  for  he  was  a  practical  chemist  and  a 
graduate  in  medicine  although  he  never  used  the 
title  of  "Doctor."  His  present  trip  was  for  the 
purpose  of  inspecting  his  company's  foreign 
branches,  his  first  objective  being  Australia. 

Richard  Collier  was  not  handsome  in  the 
accepted  sense  of  the  word,  but  he  was  straight- 
forward and,  above  all,  honest — as  Mary  Vernon 
had  discovered  in  their  interview  with  Paul 
David. 

There  were  those  on  board  the  ship  who  pro- 
fessed to  know  by  certain  unfailing  signs  that 
Richard  Collier  was  hopelessly  in  love  but,  as 
yet,  no  one  was  exactly  sure  about  Miss  Mary 
Vernon. 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  evening  arrived  when  Paul  David  was  to 
deliver  his  second  address.  Although  there  had 
been  much  interest  manifested  on  the  occasion  of 
his  first  address,  this  time  that  interest  was  in- 
tensified. While  no  one  knew  the  subject  of  his 
talk,  all  felt  it  would  be  a  revelation — but  in  what 
form,  they  could  only  speculate. 

They  were  even  more  perplexed  and  inwardly 
apprehensive  when  Paul  David  seated  himself 
on  the  rostrum.  During  the  previous  address 
his  face  had  been  wreathed  in  amiable  smiles. 
Now,  the  smiles  departed,  we  saw  only  serious- 
ness and  grim  determination. 

The  opening  preliminaries  were  short.     After 
arranging  some  papers  for  easy  reference,  the 
speaker  faced  his  audience  and  began: 
' '  My  Friends : 

"An  evening  or  two  ago  I  spoke  to  you  on  The 
Ocean.  I  endeavored  to  give  you  a  standard  by 
which  to  measure  life — to  measure  eternity. 

"In  your  girlhood  and  boyhood  days  your 
world  ended  where  the  sun  set,  just  the  other  side 
of  the  little  hill  beyond  your  home.  When  you 
became  older  you  were  taken  to  the  nearby  town, 
and  your  world  ended  there.  And  how  big  it  was ! 
You  laugh  at  this  now,  but  it  was  vain  to  tell 
you  anything  different  in  your  childhood.  Your 
little  hill  and  your  little  town  were  the  only 
standards  by  which  you  could  measure  life. 

"Some  have  never  grown  beyond  the  little  hill 
and    the    little    town.     They    are    yet    children, 

71 


72  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

although  they  have  grown  to  the  full  physical 
stature  of  men  and  women.  Each  has  a  child's 
brain  in  an  adult 's  body.  They  fight  for  the  little 
hill  and  they  shout  for  the  little  town  and  every- 
thing that  comes  from  without  is  an  enemy  ready 
to  devour  them  and,  as  darkness  sets  in  around 
them,  their  little  imaginations  run  riot  with  every 
conceivable  notion  of  impending  danger. 

"But  the  majority  of  us  get  somewhat  beyond 
that.  We  go  to  school  and  we  are  taught  that  we 
belong  to  a  certain  section  of  the  earth  and  that 
this  section  has  a  boundary  and  that  everything 
within  that  boundary  is  ours  (although  we  may 
not  own  an  inch  of  it)  and  we  must  love  it  and 
cherish  it  because  it  is  ours  and  we  must  not  love 
and  cherish  anything  outside  of  this  boundary  as 
much  as  we  love  and  cherish  what  is  inside  of  it 
for  if  we  did  this  we  would  not  be  patriotic — we 
would  be  bad  citizens,  embryo  traitors. 

"We  are  taught  also  from  our  infancy,  even  in 
church,  that  we  must  die  for  our  strip  of  the 
earth  and  everything  within  its  boundary  and  if 
that  boundary,  by  conquest  or  otherwise,  should 
be  enlarged  in  size  by  adding  more  territory  to 
it  we  should  be  prepared  to  die  for  that  also  and 
if  by  chance  we  lost  part  of  our  section  of  the 
earth,  and  it  should  permanently  come  within 
the  boundary  of  another  country,  we  should  cease 
to  love  the  lost  portion  because  it  is  no  longer  a 
part  of  our  strip  of  the  earth's  surface. 

"Years  ago  we  were  taught  that  we  must  die 
for  this  little  strip  of  the  earth's  surface  when- 
ever our  rulers  or  leaders  thought  the  time  for 
dying   had    arrived;    but   now,   to   be   good   and 


THE    WORLD    IX    1931  73 

patriotic  citizens,  we  not  only  must  die  for  our 
country  but  lie  for  it  as  well ! 

"This  is  tlie  way  the  people  of  all  the  countries 
are  taught  and  under  this  teaching  they  swell  up 
like  balloons  with  a  gaseous  mixture  of  pride,  envy 
and  hatred  and  when  they  get  sufficiently  blown 
up  and  accidently  collide  with  another  balloon 
containing  the  same  evil  mixture,  some  pretentious 
ruler  or  ambitious  little  leader  lights  a  match  and 
the  result  is  an  explosion  that  shakes  the  world. 

"Turkey  has  its  patriotism  and  so  have  Ger- 
many, England,  France  and  America.  And  each 
is  made  of  the  same  dangerous,  poisonous,  in- 
flammable and  explosive  material. 

"So  I  plead  with  you  tonight,  whatever  your 
nationality,  to  stamp  out  that  evil  thing  we  call 
national  patriotism  and  to  stamp  under  your  feet 
its  waving  emblem  as  though  it  were  a  viper  or  a 
lighted  match  in  a  powder  factory — for  it  all  tends 
to  self-glorification,  prejudice,  hatred — and  war. 

"When  men  reach  the  full  stature  of  manhood 
that  God  intended,  their  vision  will  not  be  cir- 
cumscribed by  their  little  hills  or  their  little  towns 
or  the  narrow  confines  of  their  own  little  country, 
•but  their  vision,  their  sympathy  and  their  love 
will  reach  out  to  and  embrace  all  mankind. 

"We  have  just  emerged  from  a  great  war — the 
most  terrible  in  all  history.  That  war  was  tem- 
porarily won  by  what?  Not  by  shot  and  shell, 
not  by  conciliation,  but  by  lies — and  these  lies 
were  possible  because  our  minds  were  poisoned 
by  false  patriotism.  We  were,  in  other  words, 
afflicted  by  the  world's  most  devastating  plague — 
Xationalitis. 


74  THE   WORLD    IN   1931 

"Not  that  Germany  was  guiltless,  far  from  it — 
not  that  her  leaders  were  anything  but  arrogant 
and  ambitious — not  that  she  did  not  strike  in  her 
frenzy  foul  and  cruel  blows,  for  that  is  war.  But 
never  in  all  the  history,  since  men  came  upon  this 
earth,  were  so  many  lies  uttered  and  published, 
combined  and  multiplied  a  thousand  times,  than 
those  each  national  leader  thought  necessary  to 
tell  his  people  in  order  to  win  the  war.  Can  any- 
thing be  won  by  lies?  Yes,  but  nothing  can  be 
decided  permanently  by  lies.  The  war  is  won 
but  not  decided  and  never  will  be  until  each 
acknowledges  his  particular  guilt  and  falsehoods 
before  the  bar  of  heaven. 

"Filled  with  pride  of  victory  we  hate  to 
acknowledge  that  we  have  been  misled  and  de- 
ceived. Today  we  still  try  to  make  ourselves  be- 
lieve the  world  war  was  necessary  and  that  we 
fought  in  a  sacred  cause.  But  deep  in  our  hearts 
we  know  this  is  not  true.  Liberty  Bond  sub- 
scribers now,  in  the  light  of  reason  and  common 
sense,  say:  ' Never  again!'  The  American  soldier 
who  fought  in  Europe,  to  make  the  world  safe 
for  Democracy,  will  say  privately  and  often 
publicly:  'If  they  take  me  for  another  foreign 
war,  it  will  be  my  dead  body!'  Why  are  there 
now  no  worshipers  at  the  shrine  of  Wilson — that 
fallen  American  idol  with  face  of  brass,  feet  of 
clay  and  tongue  of  deceit — that  idol  that  is  being 
gradually  swallowed  up  by  the  quicksands  of 
oblivion?  Search  your  heart  of  hearts,  my 
friends,  and  answer  wisely  for  on  your  answer — 
the  answer  of  mankind — depends  the  future  peace 
of  the  world. 


THE   WORLD   IN   1931  75 

"Until  we,  the  people  of  all  countries,  come  to 
know  and  understand  that  all  European  leader- 
ship had  a  guilty  share  in  making  the  war  pos- 
sible, that  German  citizens  were  the  victims  of 
the  same  evils  that  we  were  and  no  more  guilty 
than  we — until  we  all  come  to  this  knowledge, 
ignorance  and  hatred  will  delay  the  dawn  of  peace. 

"Without  bias,  I  have  investigated  the  subject 
of  war  guilt  for  years  and  I  can  say  to  you  tonight 
that,  if  a  thousandth  part  of  the  effort  made  to 
wan  the  war  by  force  had  been  employed  toward 
bringing  peace  by  conciliation  and  negotiation, 
the  war  would  have  ended  three  years  before  it 
did  and  hunianity  would  be  standing  squarely  on 
its  feet  today,  not  prostrate  in  the  dust. 

"In  the  fall  of  1916  in  the  City  of  Washington, 
I  talked  with  one  of  England's  greatest  diplomats. 
Frankly  he  believed  what  every  leading  statesman 
in  Europe  and  Washington  secretly  believed,  that 
a  negotiated  peace  was  then  the  most  desirable 
thing  in  all  the  world. 

"  'Why,'  I  asked,  'do  you  not  begin  negotia- 
tions?'   And  his  answer  was: 

"  'We  cannot.  Our  people  are  too  enraged  to 
allow  us  to  stop  now.  They  are  beyond  our  con- 
trol, insane  with  hatred  and  anger.  With  prop- 
aganda we  sowed  the  wind — today  we  are  reap- 
ing the  whirlwind.  Our  people  are  ablaze  with  a 
fire  that  must  burn  out,  though  civilization  be  laid 
in  ruins.  No  leader  could  stop  it  if  he  would.  If 
he  dared,  he  would  be  rended  limb  from  limb. 
National  leaders  who  systematically  poison  the 
minds  of  their  people,  to  increase  their  fighting 
spirit,   have    something   terrible   to   answer   for. 


76  THE    WORLD   IN    1931 

Even  now,  through  this  same  propaganda,  I  see 
the  storm  currents  eddying  over  America.' 

"How  differently  the  allied  peoples  would  have 
felt  toward  their  enemies  had  Sir  Philip  Gibbs, 
for  instance,  well  known  English  writer  and  war 
propagandist,  come  out  bravely  (as  he  now  does 
cowardly)  with  the  truth.  In  his  book  'It  May 
Now  Be  Told,'  by  which  he  means  the  truth  may 
now  be  told,  he  presents  some  facts  which  would 
have  cooled  our  blood  had  they  been  told  when 
they  should  have  been.  The  very  title  stamps 
its  author  a  patriotic  coward  for  as  we  read  its 
pages  of  overwhelming  perfidy  we  are  amazed 
that  the  title  was  not  written  'It  Should  Have 
Been  Told.'  For  here,  my  friends,  is  a  little  of 
what  that  now  bold  English  knight  has  to  say : 

"  'Base  passions  as  well  as  noble  instincts  were 
stirred  easily.  Greedy  was  the  appetite  of  the 
mob  for  atrocity  tales.  The  more  revolting  they 
were  the  quicker  they  were  swallowed.  The  foul 
absurdity  of  the  corpse-factory  was  not  rejected 
any  more  than  the  tale  of  the  crucified  Canadian 
(disproved  by  our  own  G.  H.  Q.)  or  the  cutting 
off  of  children's  hands  and  women's  breasts,  for 
which  I  could  find  no  evidence  from  the  only 
British  ambulances  working  in  the  districts  from 
which  such  horrors  were  reported.  Spy-mania 
flourished  in  Main  Streets;  German  music  was 
banned  in  English  drawing-rooms.  Preachers  and 
professors  denied  any  quality  of  virtue  or  genius 
to  German  poets,  philosophers,  scientists  or 
scholars.  A  critical  weighing  of  evidence  was  re- 
garded as  pro-Germanism  and  lack  of  patriotism. 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  77 

Truth  was  delivered  bound  to  passion.  Hatred 
at  home,  inspired  largely  by  feminine  hysteria  and 
official  propaganda,  reached  such  heights  that 
when  fighting-men  came  back  on  leave  their  re- 
fusal to  say  much  against  their  enemy,  their 
straightforward  assertion  that  Fritz  was  not  so 
black  as  he  was  painted,  that  he  fought  bravely, 
died  gamely,  and  in  the  prison  camps  was  well- 
mannered,  decent,  industrious,  good-natured,  were 
heard  with  shocked  silence  by  mothers  and  sisters 
who  could  only  excuse  this  absence  of  hate  as 
war-weariness. 

"  'In  courage  I  do  not  think  there  was  much 
difference  between  the  chief  combatants.  The 
Germans,  as  a  race,  were  wonderfully  brave  until 
their  spirit  was  broken  by  the  sure  knowledge  of 
defeat  and  by  lack  of  food.  Many  times  through 
all  these  years  they  marched  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
obedient  to  discipline,  to  certain  death,  as  I  saw 
them  on  the  Somme,  like  martyrs. 

<<  'They  marched  for  their  Fatherland,  inspired 
by  the  spirit  of  the  German  race  as  it  had  entered 
their  souls,  by  the  memory  of  old  German  songs, 
old  heroic  ballads,  their  German  home  life,  their 
German  women,  their  love  of  little  old  towns  on 
hillsides  or  in  valleys,  by  all  the  meaning  to  them 
of  that  word,  Germany,  which  is  like  the  name  of 
England  to  us — who  is  fool  enough  to  think  other- 
wise?— and  fought  often,  a  thousand  times,  to 
the  death,  as  I  saw  their  bodies  heaped  in  the 
fields  of  the  Somme  and  round  their  pill-boxes 
in  Flanders  and  in  the  last  phase  of  the  war  behind 
the  Hindenburg  line  round  their  broken  batteries 
on  the  wav  to  Mons  and  Le  Cateau. 


78  THE    WOELD    IN    1931 

"  'The  German  people  endured  years  of  semi- 
starvation  and  drain  of  blood  greater  than  any 
other  fighting  people — two  million  dead — before 
they  lost  all  vitality,  hope  and  pride,  and  made 
their  abject  surrender. 

"  'I  am  certain  that,  except  in  hours  when  men 
' '  see  red, ' '  there  was  no  direct  hatred  of  the  men 
in  the  opposite  trenches,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
a  queer  sense  of  fellow-feeling,  a  humorous  sym- 
pathy for  Old  Fritz,  who  was  in  the  same  bloody 
mess  as  themselves.  Our  generals,  it  is  true, 
hated  the  Germans.  '.'I  should  like  one  week  on 
Cologne,"  one  of  them  told  me,  before  there 
seemed  ever  a  chance  of  getting  there,  "and  I 
would  let  my  men  loose  in  the  streets  and  turn  a 
blind  eye  to  anything  they  liked  to  do." 

"  'If  I  had  a  thousand  Germans  in  a  row,'  re- 
lates Sir  Philip  of  another  English  commander,  'I 
would  cut  all  their  throats,  and  enjoy  the  job.' 

"Intelligent  people  are  beginning  to  understand 
how  they  were  deceived  regarding  atrocities  and 
also  for  what  purpose.  But  many  are  undecided 
still  about  the  responsibility,  the  guilt,  of  starting 
the  war.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  go  into  this  sub- 
ject deeply  but  only  to  give  you  some  testimony 
from  out  of  the  mouths  of  those  who  now,  for 
their  own  selfish  ends  or  for  patriotic  reasons,  re- 
main silent  and  allow  the  lie  of  the  ages  to  stand 
unchallenged.  This  testimony,  to  the  unprejudiced 
mind,  will  afford  some  clew  to  war  causes. 

"First,  we  will  hear  an  Englishman,  no  less  a 
personage  than  the  editor  of  the  great  London 
Daily  News.     On  August  1,  1914,  after  review- 


THE   WORLD   IN   1931  79 

ing  the  dangerous  situation  in  Europe  he  pub- 
lished to  the  world : 

"  'Asa  matter  of  fact,  the  Czar  holds  the  scales 
in  his  hands ;  but  we  hold  the  Czar  in  our  hands ! 
It  depends  on  us  whether  Europe  shall  overflow 
with  blood. ' 

''Mr.  Brailsford,  the  English  critic,  in  August 
1914,  wrote : 

"  'There  was  a  word  which  could  have  saved 
peace — the  word  of  England  to  Russia — 'If  you 
mobilize  against  Germany  before  all  aids  of 
diplomacy  have  been  exhausted,  we  shall  consider 
you  the  aggressor,  and  shall  move  no  man  nor 
ship  to  help  you.'  This  word,  Sir  Edward  Grey 
has  not  spoken.' 

"It  must  be  remembered  that  these  men  were 
bystanders  at  the  very  inception  of  the  war  and 
their  testimony,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events, 
is  most  important. 

"But  you  have  been  told  that  German's  pre- 
paredness was  an  evidence  of  her  guilt.  As  to 
this  we  must  now  put  on  the  stand  Mr.  Lloyd 
George,  the  present  English  premier.  In  January 
of  1914,  six  months  before  the  war  began,  the  at- 
tention of  that  gentleman  was  called  to  Germany's 
military  position — to  which  Lloyd  George  replied : 

"  'The  German  army  is  vital  to  the  very  life 
and  independence  of  the  German  nation,  sur- 
rounded as  she  is  by  other  nations,  each  of  which 
possesses  armies  almost  as  powerful  as  her  own.' 

"On  the  other  hand,  it  is  claimed  by  Great 
Britain  that  her  own  unpreparedness  is  an  evi- 


80  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

dence  of  her  innocence.  The  sea  power  prepared- 
ness of  Great  Britain  is  proverbial  and  cannot  be 
questioned.  Great  Britain  is  a  maritime  power — 
not  a  land  power.  But  how  did  the  British,  six 
months  before  the  war  began,  consider  their  mili- 
tary position?  On  March  10,  1914,  four  months 
before  the  war  began,  Colonel  Seeley,  Under  Sec- 
retary for  War,  stated  publicly  in  the  British 
House  of  Commons:  'We  stand  well  for  the  pur- 
poses of  immediate  war  on  any  basis  you  may  con- 
sider. ' 

"And  what  must  be  thought  of  Colonel  Reping- 
ton,  Britain's  great  military  expert,  who  in  1909 
in  his  military  book,  makes  the  following  state- 
ment: 

"  'The  possibility  of  war  on  two  fronts  is  the 
nightmare  of  German  strategists  and,  considering 
the  pace  at  which  Russia  is  building  up  her  field 
armies,  this  nightmare  is  not  likely  to  be  soon  con- 
jured away. ' 

"And  what  must  also  be  said  of  Lloyd  George's 
admission  made  on  February  15th  of  this  very 
year:  'The  war  is  something  into  which  we  all 
staggered  or  stumbled,  perhaps  through  folly, 
and  a  discussion  no  doubt,  would  have  averted  it.' 
...  At  which  the  London  Times  pertinently  re- 
marks that  if  this  be  true,  then  Germany  is  not 
alone  guilty — which  you  will  all  agree  is  right. 

"Now  let  us  hear  from  one  or  two  noted 
Frenchmen — in  order  that  the  darkness  may  be 
illumined.  You  know,  Colonel  Boucher's  writings 
were  as  prominent  in  France  as  Bernhardi's  were 
in  Germany.    Early  in  1914  Colonel  Boucher  with 


THE   WORLD    IN   1931  81 

unerring  accuracy  depicted  the  isolated  and 
dangerous  position  of  Germany  and  pointed  out 
how  her  enemies  could  take  advantage  of  that 
position.    He  goes  on  to  say: 

' '  '  Germany  today  is  threatened  on  all  frontiers 
and  finds  herself  in  a  position  that  she  can  only 
insure  her  frontier  and  face  all  her  foes  by  seek- 
ing first  of  all  to  eliminate  France  from  their 
number  by  concentrating,  from  the  beginning,  all 
her  forces  against  us.'  .  .  .  Colonel  Boucher  was 
right.  In  the  struggle  Germany  had  to  do  and  did 
what  Colonel  Boucher  had  previously  pointed  out. 
He  proceeds  with  further  damning  evidence 
against  his  own  country  and  her  allies : 

"  'Thus  we  see,  when  the  time  comes,  when 
Slavism  desires  to  make  an  end  to  Germanism, 
Russia  can  serve  us.  If  Russia  attacks  Germany, 
France  becomes  master  of  the  situation.  From 
whatever  aspect  Germany's  position  is  studied, 
it  will  be  realized  that  her  future  is  of  the  darkest.' 
.  .  .  And  who  made  Germany's  future  dark  and 
threatening?  There  can  be  but  one  answer — Rus- 
sia, backed  by  France  and  England. 

"But,  France  says  she  was  innocent  because 
she  was  found  unprepared.  In  1913  the  great 
military  expert  of  France,  Colonel  Grouard,  in 
his  book  The  Ultimate  War,  says:  'In  no  army 
has  greater  work  been  accomplished  during  the 
last  thirty  years  than  in  the  French  army.' 

"Now,  in  order  to  win  the  war,  the  leaders  of 
the  Entente  not  only  polluted  the  streams  of  truth, 
but  they  also  perverted  history.  History  is  hu- 
man experience  and  experience  is  mankind's 
greatest    teacher;    therefore,    history    above    all 


82  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

things  should  be  guarded  and  embellished  by  the 
exactest,  the  sternest  and  the  strictest  of  truth. 
If  it  shall  be  a  guide  and  instructor  for  the  present 
and  the  future,  it  must  come  to  us  as  pure  gold — 
washed  by  the  sands  of  time,  not  by  the  polluting 
hands  of  men.  In  this  connection  I  will  give  you 
one  isolated  instance  of  this  distortion,  which  had 
for  its  purpose  the  discrediting  of  Germany  and 
the  creating  of  world  sympathy  for  France, 
namely,  the  claim  that  the  war  of  1870  was  due  to 
German  aggression  and  greed,  the  exact  opposite 
being  the  truth,  as  a  few  hours  spent  in  any  library 
will  attest.  However,  I  shall  not  attempt  the 
task  of  refuting  this  claim,  but  will  content  myself 
with  giving  you  the  opinions  of  great  men  who 
saw  that  war  from  its  inception  to  its  close — by- 
standers in  intimate  touch  with  the  hidden  forces 
which  produced  that  upheaval. 

"Who  should  be  the  best  judge  between 
France  and  Germany  but  the  one  man  who  knew 
both  countries  better  than  any  other  living,  and 
he  the  greatest  Englishman  of  his  day — the  man 
who  wrote  The  Life  of  Frederick  the  Great  and 
The  French  Revolution.  That  man,  as  you  know, 
was  Thomas  Carlyle.  This  is  what  Carlyle  wrote 
in  1870: 

"  'The  vain  compassion  and  lamentations  of 
the  English  Press  about  the  trials  that  have  beset 
France  and  the  cession  of  Alsace-Lorraine  to  the 
Victorious  Germans  are,  it  appears  to  me,  in- 
spired not  so  much  by  a  feeling  of  real  sympathy 
and  humanity,  but  one  of  artificial  sentiment, 
which  betrays  complete  ignorance  of  the  history 


THE   WORLD   IN   1931  83 

of  the  two  countries  and  the  manner  in  which  Ger- 
many has  been  disturbed  and  tormented  by  France 
for  centuries. 

"  'England  retained  only  a  weak  recollection  of 
the  many  severe  lessons  that  have  resulted  from 
the  conduct  shown  by  France  to  Germany  for  the 
past  four  hundred  years. 

"  'During  these  four  centuries,  no  nation  has 
had  such  vicious  neighbors  as  the  rapacious,  irrec- 
oncilable and  always  aggressive  French  people 
were  to  Germany.  While  the  Germans  were  com- 
pelled to  bear  the  French  insults  during  this  entire 
time,  they  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  mad  if  today 
they  would  not  seize  the  opportunity  to  secure  for 
themselves  a  boundary,  which  will  guarantee 
peace  for  them.  As  far  as  I  know,  there  is  no  law 
in  the  world  that  justifies  the  French  people  in 
retaining  the  property  robbed  by  them,  after  the 
former  owners  had  once  re-appropriated  it. 

lt  'The  number  of  falsehoods,  official  and  inof- 
ficial, France  has  knowingly  produced  is  unprec- 
edented and  shocking.  However,  this  is  nothing 
compared  to  the  immeasurable  number  of  illu- 
sions and  falsehoods  that  have  circulated  so  long 
among  the  French  people.  They  are  evidently  of 
opinion  that  superhuman  wisdom  radiated  from 
France  on  all  other  nations,  that  France  is  the 
new  Zion  of  the  universe,  and  that  out  of  all  her 
literary  works  of  the  past  fifty  years,  however 
injurious  and  indecent  they  may  be,  emanates  the 
true  Gospel  so  rich  in  blessings  for  poor  human- 
ity. 

"  'May   the   noble,   peaceful,    enlightened   and 


84  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

serious  German  nation  become  united  and  reign 
as  Queen  of  the  Continent,  in  place  of  the  light- 
minded,  ambitious,  quarrelsome  and  over-sensi- 
tive French. 

"  'This  is  the  greatest  event  of  the  present 
time,  and  its  realization  must  be  welcomed  by  all. ' 

"And  what  does  England's  great  Thunderer — 
the  London  Times — say  to  this?  I  refer  to  the 
virile  Times  of  the  seventies,  not  that  degenerate 
of  today  that  has  for  its  proprietor  a  political 
assassin  occupying  the  seat  of  a  sage — a  cynic  in- 
stead of  a  seer,  a  harlequin  instead  of  a  tutor  for 
the  nation.  In  1870  the  Times  and  two  of  its  con- 
temporaries wrote  as  follows: 

' '  The  London  Times — l  It  has  long  been  a  matter 
of  faith  with  the  French  statesmen  that  the 
world's  system  required  the  supremacy  of  France 
in  Western  Europe.  The  war  must  not  end  be- 
fore she  has  been  forever  impressed  with  the 
shallowness  of  this  presumption,  and  we  urgently 
advise  France  to  accept  the  moderate  German 
Peace  Terms.' 

"The  London  Daily  News — 'Nearly  two  hun- 
dred years  ago,  Louis  XIV  robbed  Alsace.  The 
Statute  of  Limitations  may  cover  up  the  robbery — 
however,  it  does  not  cover  the  right  to  reconquer. 
The  population  is  German  according  to  descent, 
language  and  customs.  However,  the  people  need 
not  be  less  proud  to  again  be  received  by  a  greater 
nation  of  its  own  blood  and  language.' 

"The  London  Saturday  Review — 'If  Germany 
decides  to  take  Alsace  and  can  take  it,  let  her  do 
so.    According  to  our  opinion  she  is  entirely  right, 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  85 

even  though  she  does  not  previously  go  through 
the  sham  act  of  a  vote.' 

' '  This  isolated  instance  of  wilful  perversion  of 
history  is  so  important  that  I  must  pursue  it  fur- 
ther. Full  knowledge  of  such  instances  as  this 
will  serve  to  put  you  on  your  guard  when  future 
attempts  are  made  to  deceive  you. 

"The  Franco-German  controversy  includes  in 
it  the  rightful  ownership  of  Alsace-Lorraine. 
Now,  what  are  the  facts  regarding  Alsace-Lor- 
raine? To  know  these  facts  is  to  realize  how 
much  the  world  has  been  deceived  by  Allied  propa- 
ganda—and by  the  Allies  in  including  in  their 
war  aims  the  return  of  Alsace-Lorraine  to  France, 
thereby  prolonging  the  war  and  in  the  end  doing 
an  irreparable  injustice. 

"Alsace  was  forcibly  taken  from  Germany  by 
Louis  XIV  in  1681.  There  never  was  a  more 
flagrant  case  of  conquest  of  an  alien  people  than 
this.  At  a  much  later  date  the  German  Duchy  of 
Lorraine  was  annexed  to  France,  the  complete 
annexation  taking  place  in  1766.  From  that  time 
on,  even  to  the  present  day,  these  provinces  have 
remained  (insofar  as  it  was  possible  for  them  to 
do  so)  German,  in  both  language  and  custom. 

"According  to  the  census  of  1910,  nearly  90  per 
cent  of  the  two  million  inhabitants  of  Alsace-Lor- 
raine declared  German  to  be  their  native  tongue 
and  only  about  10  per  cent  owned  French  to  be 
their  language.  This  in  itself  is  remarkable 
when  it  is  remembered  that  these  provinces  lie 
alongside  of  France  proper,  the  border  territory 
being  largely  French. 


86  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

1  i  The  situation  is  summed  up  by  John  Murray, 
an  Englishman,  who  in  his  Handbook  for  Travel- 
lers on  the  Continent,  published  in  1863,  per- 
tinently remarks:  'Strasbourg  is  the  Argentora- 
tum  of  the  Romans.  Though  united  for  more  than 
a  century  with  France,  and  at  present  forming 
the  Capital  of  the  Department  of  Bas  Rhin,  Stras- 
bourg has  nevertheless  wholly  the  appearance  of 
a  German  city,  in  the  aspect  of  its  streets  and  in 
the  dress  and  the  speech  of  its  inhabitants.  Louis 
XIV  seized  Strasbourg,  a  free,  imperial  city  of 
the  German  Empire,  in  1681,  by  means  of  an  un- 
justifiable attack  during  a  period  of  absolute 
peace.' 

"Asa  result  of  the  war  of  1870,  these  provinces 
went  back  to  their  rightful  owners — to  whom  they 
properly  belonged.  Again,  in  1918,  they  go  back 
to  France,  not  by  conquest  as  formerly,  but  by 
the  work  of  political  assassins,  who  at  Versailles 
added  malice  to  falsehoods,  treachery  to  pretexts, 
and  to  all  a  blind,  irrational  and  cowardly  im- 
pulse to  inflict  punishment  and  assert  dominion. 
These  assassins  took  the  pale,  bleeding,  emaciated 
and  prostrate  body  of  Europe  in  their  deathlike 
skeleton  clutches,  tore  open  wounds  that  had  been 
healing  for  centuries,  poured  poisons  into  the 
great  wounds  left  open  by  a  war  of  which  they 
themselves  were  joint  authors — then  left  the  suf- 
ferer bound  and  gagged,  as  prey  to  the  beasts  of 
the  field  and  the  vultures  of  the  air. 

"And  that,  my  friends,  is  the  position  of  Europe 
today — three  years  after  the  cessation  of  hostili- 
ties.   Not  a  wound  has  even  begun  to  heal ;  all  is 


THE   WORLD   IN   1931  87 

inflamed  and  putrid  with  running  sores.  And 
worst  of  all,  with  world  blindness  and  prejudice 
everywhere,  there  is  no  hope  in  sight." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  address,  the  Chairman 
announced  that  on  the  following  night  Paul  David 
would  speak  on  "The  Hopeless  Economic  Condi- 
tion of  Europe"  and  on  the  evening  next  follow- 
ing would  deliver  his  final  address  entitled  ' '  The 
Impending  World   Revolution." 

The  greater  part  of  the  audience  remained, 
gathered  in  groups  of  twos  and  threes,  to  discuss 
Paul  David's  speech  in  detail. 

Mrs.  Barnstable,  in  a  shrill,  penetrating  voice, 
denounced  it  as  "Outrageous!"  Mr.  Barnstable, 
though  milder,  was  equally  as  decided  in  his 
opinion.  Addressing  a  male  companion,  he  ven- 
tured to  remark  that  "a  man  should  be  willing 
to  fight  for  the  country  that  has  given  him  a  liv- 
ing." After  a  moment's  deliberation,  the  gentle- 
man addressed,  with  some  emphasis,  replied: 

"No,  I  cannot  fully  agree  with  you.  If  a  man 
uses  the  materials  placed  at  his  disposal  by  nature 
and  earns  his  daily  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his 
brow,  as  we  are  told  that  we  all  must  earn  our  liv- 
ing, he  is,  in  my  opinion,  under  obligation  to  no 
country,  but  to  the  good  Lord  who  gave  him  the 
materials  with  which  to  make  a  living.  In  a 
country  as  rich  and  fertile  as  America,  for 
example,  where  a  living  is  more  easily  made  than 
in  older  and  more  wornout  countries,  I  am  of 
the  opinion  that  extra  thanks  should  be  given  to 
the  Creator  and  not  to  the  new  fertile  countrv  or 


88  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

its  government.  But,  I  agree  that  if  a  man  makes 
his  living  without  work,  that  is  without  creating 
something,  he  then  owes  a  great  deal  to  that  coun- 
try and  that  government  which  so  generously  per- 
mits him  to  live  on  the  fat  of  the  land  without 
returning  to  society  the  necessary  equivalent  in  la- 
bor and,  therefore,  he  should'  be  quite  willing  to 
fight  for  it,  even  to  lay  down  his  life  for  it,  if 
need  be." 

To  which  Mr.  Barnstable  made  no  reply.  He 
nervously  consulted  his  watch  and  announced  that 
it  was  his  hour  to  retire ! 

Elsewhere  in  the  room,  Mary  Vernon  was  listen- 
ing to  the  outspoken  denunciation  of  a  British 
army  officer,  who  bore  the  title  of  Colonel. 

In  the  case  of  the  Colonel,  the  title  warrants 
particular  emphasis  for  by  this  means  he  may  be 
quite  accurately  placed  and  classified.  True,  the 
title  of  Colonel  is  not  now  what  it  was  before  the 
great  war,  for  then,  owing  to  scarcity,  like  dia- 
monds it  had  a  very  high  value,  both  social  and 
commercial.  Now,  owing  to  amplitude,  the  value 
has  shrunken — very  much  like  the  iron  cross,  the 
mark  and  the  franc — but  what  we  lack  in  exclu- 
siveness  we  make  up  in  quantity.  However,  its 
broader  usage  is  even  more  practical  than  when 
used  solely  as  a  title — for  example,  to  attract  the 
attention  of  a  man  whose  name  you  have  forgot- 
ten, on  the  street  or  in  the  drawing-room,  simply 
say  ' '  Colonel ' '  and,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  he  will 
immediately  turn  your  way,  the  only  drawback 
being  that  you  may  get  the  attention  of  half  the 
men  present. 

Concluding    his    vehement    side-lights    on    the 


THE   WORLD    IN    1931  89 

speech  of  the  evening,  the  Colonel  said  signifi- 
cantly: "The  man  is  without  doubt  a  pro-Ger- 
man!" To  this  Mary  Vernon  very  quietly  re- 
plied : 

"If  you  mean  by  that  one  who  tells  the  truth 
no  matter  who  it  hurts,  or  one  who  sincerely  tries 
to  open  blinded  eyes  and  unstop  deafened  ears, 
then  I  agree  that  Mr.  David  is  a  pro-German. 
But  if  I  were  charged  with  pro-Germanism  and 
tried  before  a  military  tribunal  (to  my  mind,  the 
nearest  approach  to  a  dispenser  of  divine  justice 
on  earth)  I  should  plead  guilty  and  throw  myself 
on  the  mercy  of  the  Court,  knowing  how  humanely 
and  justly  I  would  be  treated.  Furthermore, 
Colonel,  I  should  love  to  have  as  my  judges  men 
like  you,  whose  long  training  in  morals,  ethics  and 
humaneness  would  insure  for  me  a  sentence  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  finest  human  impulses  and 
Christian  precepts." 

Now,  every  Colonel  is,  or  should  be,  gallant  and 
gallant  and  this  particular  Colonel  was  no  ex- 
ception. He  did  not  return  Miss  Vernon's  fire  for 
which  he  was  wise — he  saw,  no  doubt,  that  she 
could  shoot  straight  and  had,  besides,  plenty  of 
ammunition  in  her  mental  arsenal. 

******* 

The  next  evening,  as  an  informal  preliminary  to 
the  address  by  Paul  David,  the  entertainment 
committee  arranged  a  duet  by  Miss  Mary  Vernon 
and  Richard  Collier.  Then,  to  her  own  accompani- 
ment, Miss  Vernon  sang  another  song,  which  was 
received  with  outbursts  of  applause.  As  she  left 
the  piano,  she  was  greeted  and  complimented  by 
the  Colonel,  now  in  excellent  humor. 


90  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

' ' Miss  Vernon,"  he  began,  "I  may  not  agree 
with  you  in  some  things,  but  tonight  I  am  in  full 
agreement  with  everyone  present  in  my  estimate 
of  your  ability  as  a  singer.  Your  charming  voice 
has  afforded  me  genuine  enjoyment  which  I  feel 
inadequate  to  repay." 

Miss  Vernon  looked  at  him  critically  for  a  mo- 
ment, then  laughingly  replied:  "Colonel,  I  will 
tell  you  what  would  please  me  immensely.  Go  to 
your  stateroom,  gather  together  all  your  golden 
medals,  and  give  them  to  Mr.  Collier  to  melt  down 
in  his  experimental  crucible.  Then,  exchange  your 
uniform  for  a  civilian  suit.  In  the  steerage,  we 
will  present  all  this  to  a  poor  Hungarian  mother 
who  has  under  her  wing  two  fatherless  boys.  She 
can  use  the  gold — and  I  will  help  her  turn  your 
uniform  inside  out  and  make  of  it  clothes  for 
her  ragged  children.  Then,  when  you  reach  Aus- 
tralia, 'jump'  your  military  job  and  take  up  a 
real  man's  work.  Do  this  and  I  will  be  repaid, 
with  interest." 

The  Colonel  had  no  opportunity  to  reply,  for 
many  others  had  gathered  around  Miss  Vernon 
to  express  their  appreciation  and  thanks;  nor 
did  they  disperse  until  Paul  David  ascended  the 
rostrum.  When  the  audience  was  seated,  the 
speaker  began: 
"My  Friends: 

"I  shall  speak  to  you  tonight  on  the  Hopeless 
Economic  Condition  of  Europe.  In  approaching 
so  broad  a  subject,  I  am  conscious  of  my  own 
limitations  and  of  my  lack  of  ability  to  paint  a 
picture.  What  artist,  unless  he  have  the  colors 
of  hell,  can  paint  Europe  as  it  is  today? 


THE    WORLD    IN   1931  91 

"He  who  would  portray  the  Europe  of  1921 
must  needs  visualize  not  only  the  greatest  calamity 
of  all  history — the  calamity  of  War;  but  he  must 
visualize  another  calamity  almost  equally  great 
and  far-reaching,  the  one  following  the  other  like 
fire  follows  an  earthquake — the  calamity  of  the 
Peace.  The  one  laid  a  continent  in  ruins,  but  it 
buried  its  dead;  the  other  passed  over  like  a  holo- 
caust, searing  everything  it  touched  and  left  in 
its  wake  the  living  dead. 

"Europe  is  a  charnel-house,  with  every  light 
extinguished,  but  the  torch  of  the  assassin  and  the 
robber.  Every  day  she  is  sinking  deeper  into  the 
burning  lava  of  hatred  and  jealousies  engendered 
by  both  War  and  Peace.    And  the  end  is  not  yet. 

"If  Europe  shall  go  down,  what  then?  What 
of  America,  of  Australia,  of  Canada?  There  is 
but  one  answer  and  that  answer  may  be  expressed 
in  terms  of  color — white  and  yellow — and,  in  the 
sight  of  Heaven,  the  one  is  just  as  acceptable  as 
the  other.  When  the  day  of  the  white  man's  sui- 
cide shall  have  arrived — when  the  white  man  shall 
have  been  weighed  in  the  balance  and  found  want- 
ing— what  then  ?    I  will  leave  a  child  to  answer. 

"The  God  of  the  white  man  has  been  yellow 
gold.  For  this  God  he  has  sacrificed  oceans  of 
blood  for  the  one  drop  he  sacrificed  in  martydom 
for  the  living  God.  If  the  Lord  made  yellow  gold 
for  the  white  man's  treasure,  why  not  yellow  flesh 
for  his  own  treasure?  If  the  white  human  metal 
has  failed  (and  they  have  failed)  why  not  the 
yellow  human  metal? 

"The  white  races  are  condemned  by  their  own 
actions  and  out  of  their  own  mouths.    Have  they 


92  THE    WORLD   IN   1931 

not  condemned  their  own  kind  and  exalted  the 
yellow  man?  Did  they  not  endeavor  to  ex- 
terminate one  hundred  millions  of  their  own  (in 
Germany  and  Austria)  as  being  unfit  to  live  and 
call  upon  the  yellow  man  to  be  the  judge  and 
executioner?  Did  not  the  blood  of  yellow  men 
redden  the  soil  of  Europe  to  seal  the  destruction 
of  our  own  cousins — the  very  flower  of  the  white 
race?  Did  not  the  blood  of  the  English  and  the 
blood  of  the  Japs  make  crimson  the  valleys  of 
Kiou-Chau  so  that  German  whites  should  not  get 
a  foothold  on  the  shores  of  Asia — as  being  un- 
worthy to  return  to  the  continent  from  which  the 
white  race  originally  sprung? 

''And  what  scientist  can  now  tell  the  difference 
between  the  blood  or  skin  or  bones  of  Japanese 
and  Englishmen  as  they  rot  side  by  side,  in  their 
common  cause,  in  Asia's  glistening  sands! 

"Now,  let  us  return  to  Europe,  the  exclusive 
home  of  the  white  man — that  continent  that  today 
is  reaping  the  fruits  of  its  own  folly.  Let  us 
examine  the  causes  which  produced  such  horrible 
results  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  alleged  causes 
that  produced  these  results. 

"We  are  told  that  Germany  was  responsible  for 
Europe's  plight.  Let  us  grant  that  for  the  pres- 
ent. We  were  told  (by  Entente  political  physi- 
cians, at  least)  that  in  1914  Germany  was 
suffering  from  a  malignant  cancer  and  that  in 
the  interests  of  future  world  health  and  peace 
that  cancer  must  be  cut  out.  That  cancer  was 
known  as  militarism. 

"Now,  this  was  or  is  not  a  new  disease — it  is, 
indeed,  a  very  old  one.     For  a  thousand  years 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  93 

France  suffered  from  this  disease,  its  roots  run- 
ning deeply  into  her  vitals.  In  Russia  there  were 
many  evidences  that  the  disease  was  again  assum- 
ing a  virulent  form.  Great  Britain  was  afflicted 
with  the  same  malady,  the  roots  of  which  had 
spread  around  the  world,  but  as  she  had  suffered 
long  her  disease  was  not  so  apparent.  Britain's 
curse  was  cancer,  but  of  a  different  variety.  It 
was  a  lower  growth  than  Germany's  but,  being 
general,  its  effect  was  not  so  noticeable  as  though 
purely  local  like  Germany's.  Great  Britain's 
cancer  was  caused  and  grew  by  ravenous  greed — 
Germany's  by  outside  pressure  and  friction  or, 
in  other  words,  outside  influences,  supplemented 
with  the  necessity  for  an  unfailing  supply  of  raw 
material.  These  influences  were  none  other  than 
the  constant  pressure  that  Russia,  France  and 
England  exerted  against  her — causing  irritation 
and  fear,  then  a  thickening  of  the  skin,  then  the 
disease  in  malignant  form — a  clear  case  for  opera- 
tion, according  to  the  specialists.  Because  it  was 
purely  local,  it  could  easily  be  cut  out  without 
very  much  hurting  anybody  but  the  victim.  Great 
Britain,  from  her  safe  and  tight  little  Island, 
could  superintend  the  operation  and  give  the 
chloroform,  while  Russia  and  France  performed 
the  bloody  work. 

"But  the  patient  protested — indeed,  thousands 
of  political  physicians  and  surgeons  all  over  the 
world  protested  against  the  operation.  They 
said:  'Remove  the  pressure  from  against  Ger- 
many's skin  and  this  cancerous  growth  of  mili- 
tarism will  cure  itself.  Remove  the  pressure  of 
Russia  and  France,  the  irritation  of  Great  Britain, 


94  THE   WORLD    IN   1931 

and  an  operation  will  not  be  necessary.  By  every 
test,  the  German  organs  are  healthy,  aside  from 
the  one  difficulty  you  seek  to  cure. ' 

"But  the  operators  were  blind  to  all  appeal. 
Each  felt  he  had  much  to  gain  by  the  operation 
(physician's  necessities,  like  disease,  are  heavy 
hands  laid  upon  humanity)  so  they  went  ahead. 

"Germany  resisted  with  every  atom  of  her 
strength.  She  refused  to  be  chloroformed — she 
smashed  the  operators  and  their  pharaphernalia — 
and  the  struggle  lasted  for  nearly  four  years.  The 
Entente  surgeons  called  in  the  physical  manhood 
of  the  whole  world.  The  white  man,  the  yellow 
man,  the  copper  man  and  the  black  man  swarmed 
around  the  operating  table — and  yet  they  could 
not  hold  Germany  down. 

"America,  meanwhile,  was  gleefully  waxing 
rich — supplying  the  surgeons  with  bandages, 
chloroform  and  carving  knives  at  an  immense 
profit.  But  at  the  end  of  three  years,  the  smile 
gradually  began  to  leave  the  face  of  America  and 
dark  clouds  of  doubt  and  apprehension  took  its 
place.  What  if  Germany  should  overcome  her 
tormentors?  What  then  of  the  billions  due,  for 
chloroform,  for  bandages  and  for  carving  knives? 
The  outlook  was  distressing,  but  America  soon 
found  a  pretext  for  jumping  on  the  struggling 
body  of  Germany.  As  the  patient  struggled  and 
kicked  to  free  herself  from  the  relentless  grip 
of  her  enemies,  she  was  compelled  to  strike  at 
American  shipping.  That  was  enough.  Under 
the  pretext  of  insult,  America  joined  the  white 
man,  the  yellow  man,  the  copper  man  and  the 
black  man  to  see  the  operation  successfully  carried 
out. 


THE    WORLD    IN   1931  95 

"Dr.  Wilson,  that  conspicuous  failure  of  the 
ages,  was  America's  chief  consultant.  He  ap- 
peared on  the  scene  with  an  olive  branch  in  one 
hand  and  a  knife  in  the  other  backed  by  three 
million  well-fed,  well-clothed,  able-bodied  men, 
ready  to  enforce  his  will.  In  the  mildest  and  most 
conciliatory  tones,  Wilson  said  to  Germany:  'Sub- 
mit— rid  yourself  of  this  cancerous  militarism — 
and  then,  in  the  name  of  the  American  people,  I 
will  welcome  you  into  the  brotherhood  of  democ- 
racy and  protect  you.'  Worn  out  and  exhausted, 
Germany  readily  took  his  advice,  submitted  to  the 
chloroform — and  was  operated  upon. 

"Here  we  have  to  relate  one  of  the  most  out- 
standing instances  of  treachery  known  to  history. 
When  Germany  bared  her  breast  and  placed  her 
keeping  in  the  hands  of  the  man  whose  soft  words 
lulled  her  into  security — when  she  rendered  her- 
self powerless  by  giving  up  every  weapon  of  de- 
fense— these  men  proceeded  to  remove  the  mili- 
taristic growth  but,  in  addition,  they  cut  out  the 
very  vitals  of  their  victim  as  well  and,  finally, 
presented  her  with  a  colossal  bill  for  damages, 
damages  which  were  largely  incurred  in  her  ef- 
forts toward  self  protection. 

"Like  the  seeds  that  were  planted  in  Egyptian 
tombs,  the  seeds  implanted  in  these  Avounds  will 
never  die,  but  will  multiply  and  spread  over  the 
world — they  are  the  seeds  of  rape.  Germany  was 
the  victim  of  a  moral  and  physical  assassination 
and  will  in  time  become  a  martyr — if  not  a 
mendicant,  as  was  hopefully  intended. 

"A  surgical  operation  should  be  performed  for 
either  of  two  purposes — to  save  life  or  to  improve 


96  THE   WOELD   IN   1931 

health.  The  success  of  an  operation  may  be 
measured  by  either  or  both  of  these  objectives.  If 
death  ensues  as  a  result,  if  the  sufferer  is  left  in 
worse  health  than  before,  or  if  his  neighbors  are 
endangered  in  any  way,  then  the  operation  has 
not  been  a  success.  If  the  patient  lives,  but  has 
ten  diseases  where  he  previously  had  one, 
is  maimed  for  life  and  left  penniless  and  unable 
to  earn  a  living,  then  what  shall  be  said  of  the 
success  of  the  operation  or  the  sanity  of  the 
operators?  For  your  answer,  compare  the 
Europe  of  today  with  the  Europe  of  July,  1914 ! 

"My  friends,  they  cut  out  militarism — the 
menace  to  Europe  and  the  world.  '  The  Mad  Dog, ' 
of  Europe  is  dead.  You  all  joined  in  the  chase  and 
all  contributed  to  the  expense.  You  saddled  a 
debt  not  only  on  yourselves,  but  on  your  children 
and  on  their  children.  Your  so-called  leaders 
said :  '  Help  kill  the  dog  and  save  your  children ! ' 
and  further  promised:  'This  is  the  last  war,  the 
last  mad  dog  hunt,  for  we  are  going  to  make  the 
world  safe  for  Democracy!' 

"You  took  them  at  their  word — you  did  not 
question — but  now  what  do  you  discover?  Instead 
of  one  mad  dog,  you  find  a  dozen  snarling  and 
snapping  brutes  and  not  the  least  of  these  the 
one  that  you  petted,  took  to  your  bosom  and  show- 
ered your  warm  tears  on — France.  Her  old  foe 
and  menace  (as  she  called  it)  has  disappeared,  but 
today  France  is  squandering  her  substance  on 
armament  while  her  old  debts  remain  and  her 
children  starve.  Her  old  disease,  the  cancer  of 
militarism,  is  active  again — now  that  the  restraint 
on  her  Eastern  border  has  disappeared.     Take 


THE   WORLD   IN    1931  97 

Britain.  Her  menace,  she  claimed,  was  the  grow- 
ing sea  power  of  Germany.  Now  Germany  has 
not  a  battleship,  yet  Great  Britain  is  spending 
millions  on  her  navy.  In  what  direction  does  her 
menace  now  lie?  The  cancer  was  cut  out  of  one, 
but  its  roots  are  down  deep  in  the  others  and,  if 
every  sign  does  not  mislead,  there  is  evidence  of 
the  disease  showing  its  ugly  head  even  in  America. 

"They  carved  Europe  with  no  restraining  hand 
— the  only  one  they  feared  and  respected,  lying 
prostrate.  They  made  a  beggar  of  Austria,  a 
brigand  of  Poland,  a  puppet  of  the  Balkans,  an 
outcast  of  Russia,  a  slave  of  Germany  and  a  fool 
of  the  United  States. 

"Across  the  Atlantic  what  human  inferno  do 
we   see! 

' '  There  stands  France,  ready  with  a  bludgeon — 
to  knock  Germany  down  if  she  attempts  to  rise, 
but  when  she  does  not  rise  and  pay  her  assessed 
damages,  threatening  to  dismember  her. 

"France  and  England  are  now  at  one  another's 
throats.  England,  to  help  cripple  Germany  and 
to  pay  her  obligation  to  France,  consented  to  a 
stupendous  levy  by  France  on  Germany's  coal 
supply.  Now  with  this  same  coal,  France  is 
supplying  England's  best  customers — under- 
selling England  with  coal  that  cost  her  almost 
nothing — closing  the  English  coal  mines  and 
throwing  thousands  of  miners  out  of  work — ruin- 
ing the  coal  industry  of  England  and  damaging 
British  shipping  as  well. 

"Then  glance  at  Poland — that  rapacious 
brigand  of  Central  Europe,  backed  by  France. 
This  country  is  in  the  throes  of  nationalistic  con- 


98  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

vulsions  and,  filled  with  greed  and  ambition, 
threatens  the  peace  and  security  of  Germany  on 
the  one  side  and  of  Russia  on  the  other. 

''But  this  is  not  all.  Entente  leaders  are  driven 
to  distraction  to  hide  from  their  peoples  the  fact 
that  they  cannot  make  good  their  claim  that  they 
would  compel  Germany  to  pay  for  the  war  'far- 
thing for  farthing.'  They  now  know  they  cannot 
collect  the  indemnity  proposed — for  three  good 
and  sufficient  reasons: 

"First — The  utter  impossibility  of  Germany  to 
pay  so  colossal  a  sum. 

' '  Second — Payment  in  full  of  the  amount  stipu- 
lated, in  the  only  form  that  it  is  possible  for  Ger- 
many to  pay,  i.  e.,  in  products,  would  ruin  the 
industries  of  every  country  receiving  its  share 
and  increase  unemployment  in  a  corresponding 
degree. 

' '  Third — Taking  raw  material  instead  of  manu- 
factured goods  involves  labor ;  and  labor,  whether 
employed  by  the  Allies  or  Germany,  must  be  paid. 
By  what  means  can  Germany  pay  for  this  labor, 
even  if  her  leaders  were  willing  to  do  so? — and 
will  German  labor  perform  this  service  without 
pay  when  they  know  that  every  effort  they  make 
will  be  for  the  sole  benefit  of  an  alien  people? 
Should  the  Allies  be  compelled  to  go  and  take 
their  raw  materials  with  their  own  labor,  they  may 
find  little  profit  in  the  transaction  after  this  has 
been  paid. 

' '  The  Allies  are  up  against  a  genuine  economic 
difficulty  and  economic  difficulties  are  not  usually 
solved  by  'mandates'  or  'proclamations.'  The 
mountain  will  not  come  to  Mohamet  and  these 


THE    WORLD    IN   1931  99 

Moliamets  are  too  proud  to  go  to  the  mountain. 
Instead  they  curse  and  fume  and  rage  and 
threaten  but,  impotent,  they  content  themselves 
with  baiting  and  strangling  their  late  enemy. 

"The  worst  feature,  however,  has  yet  to  be 
considered — Europe's  bankruptcy. 

"Europe  owes  the  appalling  sum  of  300  billion 
dollars,  upon  which  nearly  15  billion  dollars  inter- 
est must  be  paid  annually.  The  interest  alone 
means  more  than  the  yearly  profits  of  all  Euro- 
pean business  for  the  best  year  in  her  history. 

"The  greater  part  of  this  interest  money  must 
be  paid  by  a  large  producing  majority  to  a  very 
small  minority — consisting  of  a  new  hard-faced 
aristocracy  that  came  into  being  as  the  direct  re- 
sult of  the  war  and  now  claims  the  right  to  regu- 
late and  rule  the  world. 

"Never  in  the  history  of  mankind  can  we  find 
a  parallel  of  such  economic  slavery  in  any  na- 
tion as  we  find  in  Europe  today.  The  financially 
enslaved  majority  is  daily  growing  larger. 
The  minority,  which  holds  the  whip  hand,  is 
daily  growing  smaller,  while  their  strong  boxes 
are  growing  larger.  The  enslaved  majority  can- 
not hope  to  pay  even  a  half  of  the  interest,  let 
alone  anything  on  the  principal.  This  colossal 
burden  will  grow  larger  and  larger  as  it  passes 
from  one  generation  to  the  other,  and  each  will 
have  to  bend  its  back  to  receive  the  load. 

"It  will  be  seen  that  instead  of  making  the 
world  safe  for  Democracy,  we  have  been  making  it 
safer  and  safer  for  robbery  and  slavery. 

"England  fares  somewhat  better  than  France, 
Germany  or  Italy,   but  the   plight  of  all  these 


100  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

countries  by  comparison  is  best  shown  by  the 
figures  of  British  trade  for  the  month  of  April, 
1913,  and  the  month  of  April,  1921.  In  April,  1913, 
the  British  people  imported  of  such  materials  as 
she  lived  on  1,979,000  tons — in  April,  1921,  she 
imported  but  761,000  tons,  and  each  month  since 
then  the  supply  has  further  declined.  In  other 
words,  the  people  of  Great  Britain  are  living  on 
about  one-third  of  what  they  consumed  in  1913 — 
their  imports  being  their  main  source  of  supply. 

"All  the  delicate  machinery  that  was  built  up 
between  nations,  for  the  facility  of  trade  and 
other  relations,  has  been  destroyed.  Europe  is 
practically  back  to  barter — minus  even  the  crude 
implements  incident  to  such  a  primitive  state. 
And  will  the  future  historian  record  that  Capital- 
ism and  Civilization  both  were  destroyed  through 
the  destruction  of  its  intricate  machinery  of  ex- 
change ? 

"There  is  but  one  salvation  for  Europe  today 
and  that  lies  in  the  cancellation  of  all  debts,  for 
she  cannot  rise  to  her  feet  under  the  present  load. 
The  two  methods  by  which  this  may  be  done  are 
voluntary  action  or  revolution.  Capitalism  will 
never  give  up  its  advantage  voluntarily,  but  one 
of  these  days  will  gamble  with  the  Fates,  risk  all 
and  lose  all. 

"Do  the  gods  demand  another  blood  sacrifice? 
If  so,  let  their  will  be  done  when  the  hour  has 
arrived!  The  present  is  intolerable,  the  future 
uncertain — we  are  sure  of  nothing  but  the  past. 
If  there  ever  was  a  golden  age  intended  for  man 
on  this  earth,  it  was  not  of  the  past,  nor  is  it  of 
the  present,  but  of  the  future.  And  the  future, 
today  of  all  days  of  history,  is  in  the  making. ' ' 


THE   WORLD   IN   1931  101 

When  the  address  was  concluded  the  chairman 
announced  that  Mr.  David  would  answer  any  ques- 
tions, within  reason,  that  the  audience  might  feel 
disposed  to  ask.  The  Colonel  was  the  first  of 
many  to  accept  the  challenge : 

Question:  "Do  you  not  think  that  Germany's 
preparedness  was  conclusive  evidence  of  her 
guilt?" 

Answer:  l '  No.  I  agree  with  Lloyd  George  that 
Germany  needed  soldiers  and  equipment  equal 
to  the  combined  strength  of  Russia  and  France, 
with  an  ever-present  possibility  of  England  being 
added  to  the  enemy  ranks.  Germany's  up-to-date 
equipment  does  not  prove  her  guilt;  rather  it  is 
an  indication  of  her  thoroughness  and  efficiency. 
However,  a  murder  may  be  committed  with  an 
old  musket  as  readily  as  the  newest  make  of  rifle. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  the  combined  ex- 
penditure of  Germany's  opponents  for  war  equip- 
ment was  much  larger  than  that  of  the  German 
Empire." 

Question:  "Don't  you  feel  that  Germany's 
armament  was  a  menace  to  the  peace  of  the 
world?" 

Answer:  "I  certainly  do.  Any  armed  country, 
like  an  armed  man,  is  a  public  menace.  If  a  man 
carries  no  arms,  he  will  do  no  shooting  and  is, 
therefore,  less  liable  to  commit  murder.  Ger- 
many's armament  was  a  necessity  for  her  own 
protection — yet  out  of  this  necessity  grew  evils. 
Great  armies  produce  national  pride  and  des- 
potism— destroy  faith  in  arbitration  and  Christian 
conciliation.  This  is  ever  true,  without  regard 
to  the  particular  country  which  possesses  them. 


102  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

In  my  opinion  Germany's  military  machine  was 
organized  on  harsher  and  crueler  lines  than  that 
of  any  other  nation — at  least,  her  discipline  was 
harsher  and  less  humane  than  that  of  either  Eng- 
land or  France." 

Question:  "Is  it  not  true  that  the  German 
Army  was  intended  for  aggression  as  well  as  for 
protection  and  that  the  Germans  intended  to  annex 
enemy  territory  and  dominate  the  world!" 

Answer:  "I  honestly  believe  it  was  the  aim  of 
German  leadership  to  place  that  country  in  the 
very  front  rank  of  nations.  Some  narrow  and 
uninformed  people  may  think  that  this  could  only 
be  accomplished  by  conquest — by  annexation  and 
subjugation.  But  that  is  not  true,  nor  do  I  agree 
that  it  was  Germany's  program.  It  is  true  that 
Germany  was  as  anxious  for  trade  profits  as  any 
country  and  was  anxiously  looking  ahead  for 
means  of  expansion  for  her  rapidly  increasing 
population,  but  this  does  not  presuppose  that  she 
intended  to  take  by  force,  or  seek  political  control 
over  her  neighbors.  Germany,  above  all  countries, 
knew  the  economic  fallacy  of  such  a  procedure,  as 
Alsace-Lorraine  to  some  extent  had  taught  her. 
Political  control  is  not  essential  to  participation 
in  the  natural  advantages  of  outside  countries. 
In  fact,  great  advantages  are  often  reaped  by  out- 
siders from  other  nations,  without  the  responsi- 
bility of  domestic  management. 

"It  is  my  belief  that  Germany  was  prepared 
to  protect  her  rapidly  growing  foreign  trade  and 
to  see  to  it  that  she  received  her  fair  share  of 
the  world's  raw  materials.  The  problem  of  raw 
materials  was  both  important  and  acute — had  to 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  103 

be  solved  at  all  costs — and  the  only  nation  that 
could  say  her  nay  was  Great  Britain.  Without 
the  guarantee  of  raw  materials  from  abroad,  Ger- 
many could  not  plan  for  the  future. 

' '  The  ambition  for  foreign  trade  and  expansion 
was  held  against  Germany  by  the  multitude  which, 
at  the  same  time,  condoned  the  selfsame  thing  in 
the  world's  chief  offender — Great  Britain.  How- 
ever, even  in  Great  Britain  there  were  those  broad 
and  honest  enough  to  concede  to  Germany  the 
same  rights  to  foreign  trade  and  expansion  that 
they  themselves  enjoyed — notably  Lord  Roberts, 
who  voiced  the  following  generous  opinion: 

"  'How  was  this  empire  of  Britain  founded? 
War  founded  this  empire — war  and  conquest! 
When  we,  therefore,  masters  by  war  of  one-third 
of  the  habitable  globe — when  we  propose  to  Ger- 
many to  disarm,  to  curtail  her  navy  or  to  diminish 
her  army,  Germany  naturally  refuses ;  and,  point- 
ing not  without  justice  to  the  road  by  which  Eng- 
land, sword  in  hand,  has  climbed  to  her  unmatched 
eminence,  declares  openly,  or  in  the  veiled 
language  of  diplomacy,  that  by  the  same  path,  if 
by  no  other,  Germany  is  determined  also  to  ascend. 
Who  among  us,  knowing  the  past  of  this  nation 
and  the  past  of  all  nations  and  cities  that  have 
ever  added  the  luster  of  their  name  to  human 
annals,  can  accuse  Germany  or  regard  the  utter- 
ance of  one  of  her  greatest,  a  year  and  a  half  ago, 
with  any  feelings  but  those  of  respect.'  " 

No  further  questions  were  asked  and  it  was  then 
announced  that  Mr.  David's  next  address,  to  be 
delivered  the  following  evening,  would  be  on 
The  Impending  World  Revolution. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  fateful  day  at  last  arrived,  for  some  of  us, 
at  least,  without  warning.  The  morning  of  May 
26,  1921,  was  ushered  in  gloriously — but  clothed 
in  its  majestic  garb  of  color  the  horseman  of  mis- 
fortune. 

The  sea  was  as  calm  and  serene  as  the  sky, 
throwing  back  in  playfulness  the  kisses  of  the 
sun.  We  were,  one  and  all,  under  the  spell  of 
the  enchantress ;  but  none  knew  how  soon  these 
beautiful  robes  of  the  morning  would  be  gathered 
up  like  the  rainbow  and  the  storm  break  upon  us. 

We  were  now  within  a  few  hundred  miles  of 
the  Marshall  Islands  and  somewhat  north  of  the 
regular  trade  route  between  Honolulu  and  Aus- 
tralia. For  twenty-four  hours  past  our  ship  had 
been  barely  creeping  along  as  a  result  of  a  break 
in  the  machinery.  Owing  to  the  calm  nature  of 
the  sea,  the  Captain  concluded  to  stop  the  engines 
and  make  repairs,  announcing  that  it  would  be  at 
least  eight  hours  before  sailing  would  be  resumed. 
This  disappointed  none  of  us,  save  those  who  by 
nature  are  compelled  to  soothe  their  nerves  by 
being  on  the  move,  who  must  be  any  place  but 
where  they  are. 

For  several  days  we  had  been  passing  numer- 
ous coral  formations,  but  never  close  enough  for 
us  to  study  their  structure  or  their  beauty.  Off 
to  the  North  we  observed  another  group  of  these 
little  islands,  their  tiny  heads  projecting  just 
above  the  water.  I  was  deeply  anxious  to  examine 
them  at  close  range  and  suggested  to  Miss  Vernon 

104 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  105 

and  Richard  Collier  that,  if  a  boat  could  be  ob- 
tained, we  could  easily  row  over  and  back  in  a 
very  short  time.  Immediately  they  fell  in  with  the 
idea  and,  without  further  delay,  we  sought  the 
Captain.  To  our  surprise,  he  placed  a  boat  at 
our  disposal,  but  with  the  strict  injunction  that 
we  start  back  immediately  when  he  gave  the 
signal.  I  must  admit  that  this  unusual  favor 
never  would  have  been  granted  had  not  Mary 
Vernon  been  our  spokesman. 

We  were  soon  on  our  way  with  Richard  Collier 
pulling  lustily  at  the  oars  and  Mary  Vernon  look- 
ing ahead  through  powerful  field  glasses,  ready 
to  record  first  impressions  in  her  notebook,  the 
same  which  contained  the  shorthand  notes  of 
Paul  David's  recent  addresses.  Passengers 
crowded  to  the  rails,  waving  their  handkerchiefs 
as  vigorously  as  though  we  had  left  the  ship  for 
good. 

In  half  an  hour  we  had  reached  the  first  coral 
group  and  made  a  landing — realizing  at  last,  as 
we  confided  to  one  another,  a  long  cherished  dream 
of  our  youth.  Collier  was  well  versed  on  the  sub- 
ject of  coral  formations  and  his  description  of 
the  silent  little  army  of  sea  workers  was  intensely 
interesting.  So  interested  were  we  that  we  be- 
came unconscious  of  the  passing  of  time — then 
suddenly  we  realized  that  the  heavens  had  become 
dark  and  threatening. 

We  had  travelled  but  a  short  distance  from 
shore,  on  our  return  to  the  ship,  when  Miss  Ver- 
non discovered  that  she  had  left  her  notebook 
behind.  She  insisted,  against  our  advice,  that  we 
return  for  it  and  we  consented,  redoubling  our 


106  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

efforts  at  the  oars  to  make  up  for  the  delay.  Col- 
lier scrambled  to  the  top  of  the  reef  and,  book  in 
hand,  stood  rigid,  eyes  fixed  on  the  horizon.  Each 
passing  moment  the  murky  darkness  increased — 
forerunner  of  a  great  storm,  in  all  probability  a 
typhoon.  Even  before  we  could  reach  his  side, 
the  sea  was  stirring  uneasily  under  the  foreboding 
aspect  of  things. 

We  turned  our  eyes  toward  the  ship  and  ob- 
served, to  our  great  joy,  that  a  lifeboat  was  being 
lowered.  Through  Miss  Vernon's  glass  we  could 
see  the  Captain  frantically  giving  orders.  By 
the  time  the  boat  was  in  the  sea,  the  waves  began 
to  roll,  tossing  the  great  ship  like  a  cork.  After 
heroic  efforts  in  the  teeth  of  the  gale,  the  boat 
turned  back  a  hundred  feet  from  the  ship's  side. 
As  the  storm  grew  in  intensity,  we  felt  secure  with 
firm  ground  under  our  feet,  but  hoped  and  prayed 
for  the  safety  of  the  ship  and  those  on  board. 

It  might  be  well  to  explain  that  nature  has  de- 
signed these  little  coral  islands  in  the  form  of  a 
circle,  and  in  the  center  is  a  lagoon.  At  high  tide 
their  average  height  above  the  water  is  between 
four  and  twelve  feet.  In  a  great  storm,  the  sea 
breaks  over  the  highest  of  these  formations  on 
the  side  that  receives  the  impact,  but  those  on 
the  sheltered  side  are  protected  from  the  onrush 
of  the  water,  although  at  times  almost  overswept 
by  the  waves. 

Human  language  will  never  reach  that  power 
and  perfection  by  which  we  may  convey,  to  those 
who  have  not  seen  or  heard,  the  terrors  of  a 
typhoon.  First  a  sobbing  wail,  a  cry  of  distress 
in  the  distance — then  a  roar  like  muffled  artillery 


THE   WORLD   IN   1931  107 

with  moans  and  cries  as  if  from  the  abode  of  lost 
souls — then  howling  winds  in  quest  of  prey — and 
all  to  the  accompaniment  of  a  tumult  of  crashing 
waves,  under  wrathful  skies. 

As  has  been  intimated,  we  were  protected  by 
the  first  line  of  defense  which  these  little  toilers 
of  the  sea  had  patiently  erected  and  which  formed 
the  half  circle  on  the  storm  side  of  the  lagoon. 
We  found  shelter  and  protection  in  a  waveworn 
niche  on  the  South  side  of  the  circle,  although 
bombarded  ceaselessly  from  the  rear  by  waves 
that  the  first  line  was  unable  to  hold — waves  which 
on  striking  the  reef  at  our  backs  would  shoot  for- 
ward a  hundred  feet  in  the  air  and  fall  in  tons  far 
beyond. 

Through  the  hazy,  thickening  air  and  moun- 
tains of  water,  we  could  see  nothing  of  the  ship 
but  its  funnels.  Sometimes  it  would  entirely  dis- 
appear and  again  come  to  view — but  finally  it  was 
entirely  lost  to  sight. 

During  the  time  the  storm  raged  we  were  hud- 
dled together  in  a  very  cramped  position  in  the 
shelter  of  the  rock.    Scarcely  a  word  was  spoken. 

It  was  impossible  to  tell  what  was  going  on  in 
Mary  Vernon's  mind.  No  trace  of  alarm  or 
anxiety  showed  on  her  face.  On  the  contrary,  her 
countenance  was  thoughtful  and  even  more  calm 
than  placid.  It  was  a  face  such  as  might  be  seen 
in  a  theater,  where  a  great  tragedy  was  being 
enacted.  Her  personal  safety  seemed  furthest 
from  her  thoughts.  The  whole  scene  held  her 
spellbound — she  seemed  afraid  to  move  or  speak 
lest  something  should  escape  her. 


108  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

When  the  storm  had  subsided  sufficiently  for 
us  to  stand  on  our  feet,  Miss  Vernon  sagely  re- 
marked: "I  now  feel  that  it  will  be  unnecessary 
for  Mr.  David  to  deliver  his  address  tonight,  for 
the  world  revolution  has  already  taken  place  and 
we  have  seen  it  for  ourselves." 

As  nature  returned  to  her  normal  state,  we  too 
became  more  normal  and  more  human.  Collier 
seemed  very  depressed,  though  not  entirely  on 
his  own  account,  and  constantly  referred  to  our 
plight  as  a  "misfortune."  Mary  Vernon  said 
little,  but  it  was  apparent  that  she  was  beginning 
to  feel  some  impatience  at  Collier's  attitude.  Dur- 
ing one  of  his  tragic  outbursts,  she  observed : 

"I,  myself,  am  a  great  believer  in  the  law  of 
compensation.  It  would  be  but  a  prophet  who 
could  tell  us  tonight  whether  this  be  misfortune 
or  otherwise.  Had  our  ship  gone  down  in  the 
storm,  as  it  may,  you  would  not  say  that  we,  on 
this  island,  are  the  victims  of  misfortune.  None 
of  us  can  tell  what  evils  we  have  escaped  and 
until  we  know  we  cannot  judge. 

"Good  is  a  revolving  globe — it  has  its  bright 
side  and  its  shadow  side.  We  are  now  in  the 
shadow,  like  the  earth  at  night.  We  have  the 
moon  and  we  have  the  stars — but  what  of  tomor- 
row? Thus  far,  it  appears  to  me,  the  Fates  have 
favored  us.  In  all  my  life  I  have  never  seen  any- 
thing so  wonderful,  so  awe-inspiring,  as  the  storm 
we  have  just  witnessed.  It  was  worth  a  journey 
around  the  earth  to  see.  But  if  this  be  a  mis- 
fortune, we  are  fortunate  that,  unlike  most  hu- 
man beings,  we  did  not  bring  misfortune  on 
ourselves.    And  another  blessing  is  that  we  will 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  109 

better  know  each  other,  for  the  test  of  a  ship's 
mast  is  not  in  the  calm  but  in  the  storm." 

We  were  both  surprised  at  the  almost  severity 
of  her  tone,  but  we  were  pleased  and  relieved  to 
know  that,  if  worst  came  to  worst,  our  companion 
would  not  be  of  the  fair  weather  variety,  but 
would  philosophically  and  stoically  endure  to  the 
end,  whatever  that  end  might  be. 

Night  was  now  on  and  the  moon  rose  over  the 
troubled  waters.  The  wind  had  gone  down  and 
the  waves  were  gently  lapping  the  shore  as  though 
affectionately  to  make  amends  for  their  former 
outbursts  of  temper.  The  moon  and  the  stars 
joined  in  the  work  of  reconciliation.  Therefore,  a 
peaceful  tomorrow  was  promised. 

I  jokingly  asked  my  companions  what  our  pro- 
gram would  be  for  the  coming  day.  They  ad- 
mitted that  they  had  scarcely  given  it  a  thought, 
preferring  to  be  guided  by  events.  I  insisted  that 
it  might  be  better  to  discuss  that  important  sub- 
ject now. 

We  were  in  unanimous  agreement  that  if  the 
ship  did  not  return  by  noon  the  chances  were  it 
would  not  come  at  all.  In  case  of  its  failure  to 
arrive  by  that  time,  it  was  incumbent  that  we  lose 
no  time  in  leaving  the  little  island,  in  quest  of 
land. 

The  night  was  warm.  We  made  ourselves  as 
comfortable  as  possible,  but  sleep  was  out  of  the 
question.  The  night  was  not  long  in  passing — 
we  exchanged  many  interesting  experiences,  sang 
a  few  songs  and  Miss  Vernon  recited  one  or  two 
poems.  But  we  were  glad  to  welcome  the  morn- 
ing in  her  purple  robes,  all  feeling  confident  that 
it  presaged  a  kindly  day  for  us. 


110  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

In  vain,  as  the  early  hours  passed,  we  swept 
the  horizon  for  sight  of  the  ship.  We  could  see 
a  distance  of  many  miles  in  the  direction  it 
had  disappeared,  but  not  even  a  shadow  of 
smoke  was  now  visible  on  the  horizon.  To  the 
North  and  West  the  field  glass  revealed  many 
other  little  coral  groups.  If  the  ship  failed  to 
arrive,  our  only  hope,  we  felt,  lay  in  their  direc- 
tion. We  decided  to  wait  until  noon,  but  no  longer. 
When  that  hour  arrived,  all  hope  of  rescue  dis- 
pelled, we  set  out  bravely,  rowing  in  the  direction 
of  the  nearest  reef.  It  was  at  best  a  random 
shot  as  in  the  dark,  but  the  only  chance  left  to  us. 

By  now  we  were  hungry  and  thirsty,  but  our 
sufferings  as  yet  were  not  acute.  Calmly  we  dis- 
cussed the  question  of  how  long  an  able-bodied 
man  or  woman  could  subsist  without  food  or 
water.  Collier  encouraged  us  with  the  informa- 
tion that  some  of  these  coral  islands  harbored 
shellfish  and,  in  the  crevices  of  the  rocks,  rain 
water  was  frequently  found.  We  all  took  turns  at 
the  oars,  Mary  Vernon  insisting  on  doing  her 
part. 

About  two  in  the  afternoon,  we  reached  the  first 
coral  group,  but  nothing  of  an  edible  nature  was 
to  be  found.  We  rested  for  a  short  time  and  pro- 
ceeded in  the  direction  of  a  larger  group  about 
five  miles  due  west,  which  proved  as  disappointing 
as  the  last — we  began  to  think  Collier  was  romanc- 
ing when  he  ventured  the  information  about  the 
water  and  the  fish.  To  the  Northwest,  our  glass 
brought  to  view  a  huge  volcanic  rock  and  we 
started  out  at  once  in  the  hope  that  from  its  top 
we  could  obtain  a  better  view  of  our  surroundings. 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  111 

It  was  nearly  five  o  'clock  before  we  reached  our 
objective  and,  after  some  difficulty,  effected  a 
landing.  Collier  climbed  the  rock,  glass  in  hand. 
It  was  an  anxious  moment.  While  he  swept  the 
horizon  with  his  glass,  it  seemed  like  an  eternity. 
If  at  this  height,  nothing  were  revealed,  we  were 
doomed.  He  pointed  the  glass  first  South,  then 
West,  then  bearing  toward  the  North  he  stopped 
and  yelled  in  tones  to  raise  the  ocean's  dead.  We 
knew  the  rest — land  was  in  sight! 

Down  he  came  as  nimble  as  a  mountain  goat, 
seizing  our  hands  in  a  grip  which  revealed  the 
depth  and  intensity  of  his  emotion.  Then,  with 
composure,  he  informed  us  there  was  an  island  of 
some  size,  covered  with  verdure,  a  considerable 
distance  to  the  Northwest.  Temporarily  forget- 
ting our  hunger,  thirst  and  fatigue  we  pulled 
away  at  a  rapid  pace.  Before  darkness  came  on 
we  had  an  excellent  view — of  what  was  destined 
to  be  our  new  home.  In  a  quiet  cove  we  made 
our  landing  by  the  light  of  the  moon.  Too  tired 
to  seek  food  or  water,  we  contented  ourselves 
with  gathering  leaves  and  boughs  for  our  beds 
and,  in  an  incredibly  short  time  there  were  at 
least  three  sound  sleepers  on  the  island. 

It  is  quite  needless  to  remind  the  reader  that 
we  were  up  with  the  dawn.  Never  in  all  our  lives 
had  the  world  looked  so  good — the  ground,  the 
trees,  the  shrubs,  the  birds,  the  insects,  every- 
thing! Heretofore,  we  had  known  something  of 
the  barrenness  of  prosperity.  Now  we  had  our 
first  taste  of  the  sweet  fruits  of  adversity!  Mary 
Vernon,  in  her  exuberance,  exclaimed :  "If  some 
good  fairy  would  only  lead  me  to  a  spring  of 


112  THE    WOELD    IN    1931 

water,  my  happiness  will  be  complete!"  But  Col- 
lier was  already  in  quest  of  that  very  article  and 
soon  returned,  telling  of  a  cascade  in  the  nearby 
rocks.  Until  his  companions  could  share  the 
pleasure  with  him,  he  had  refused  himself  even  a 
taste  and  as  we  all  drank  our  fill  we  felt  that  never 
before  had  we  known  the  real  meaning  of  water — 
another  of  our  compensations. 

Next,  and  most  important,  was  our  breakfast. 
Thanks  to  the  storm,  we  were  able  to  get  cocoa- 
nuts  without  climbing  a  fifty  foot  tree.  Our  break- 
fast consisted  of  the  delicious  milk  of  cocoanuts, 
with  ripe  pineapples  for  an  appetizer.  Breakfast 
over,  we  were  ready  to  explore  and  at  Mary  Ver- 
non's suggestion,  we  rowed  around  the  shore  line 
to  get  a  proper  perspective. 

The  island  proved  to  be  about  one  and  one-half 
miles  long  and  about  a  mile  wide.  The  only  visible 
signs  of  life  were  what  we  concluded  to  be  wild 
goats  and  numerous  birds  of  rare  plumage. 

As  we  passed  the  western  side,  we  were  startled 
to  find,  near  the  water's  edge  yet  upon  very  high 
ground,  several  houses  or  buildings  of  the  cabin 
type.  At  the  foot  of  a  path  leading  to  these  build- 
ings was  a  temporary  dock.  We  were  in  no  haste 
to  land,  deciding  to  take  the  precaution  of  observ- 
ing things  from  a  distance.  As  we  saw  no  evi- 
dence of  human  life  anywhere,  our  glass  revealing 
weeds  and  second  growth  shrubs  around  the 
doors,  we  felt  safe  in  landing  for  closer  inspec- 
tion. Even  the  path  showed  no  evidence  of  having 
been  used  for  years — no  footprints  being  visible 
anywhere. 

There  were  three  buildings  in  all,  each  about 


THE    WORLD   IN    1931  113 

thirty  by  twenty  feet,  constructed  of  coarse  pine. 
The  first  and  largest  that  we  entered  was  filled 
writh  new  machinery  now  covered  with  rust.  The 
second  building  evidently  had  been  used  for  living 
quarters  for  it  contained  rough  furniture,  cooking 
utensils  and  four  bunks — one  of  these  being  in 
a  separate  room.  The  third  building  was  well 
filled  with  canned  goods,  workmen's  supplies,  etc. 
We  found  nothing  to  indicate  who  the  owners 
wrere,  but  though  the  buildings  had  not  been  used 
or  occupied  for  years,  everything  was  in  good  con- 
dition except  for  the  rust  and  dust. 

We  were  at  our  wits'  ends  for  an  answer  to 
the  riddle.  An  hour's  careful  search  revealed 
nothing.  One  theory  we  held  was  that  the  place 
had  been  occupied  by  four  men  (there  being  four 
single  beds  or  bunks)  and  that  in  all  likelihood 
these  men  had  gone  out  to  sea  (for  the  landing 
showed  they  possessed  a  boat)  and  were  over- 
taken by  a  storm  and  drowned,  leaving  nothing  to 
tell  the  tale. 

But  this  theory  was  soon  exploded.  We  dis- 
covered a  number  of  glass  jars  containing  dif- 
ferent seeds,  the  instructions  for  planting  being 
in  German — on  the  tables  and  shelves  a  number 
of  German  books  were  scattered  around,  which 
convinced  us  that  the  island  was  a  German  posses- 
sion and  the  owners  of  the  houses  also  were  Ger- 
man. 

But  in  our  search  we  had  overlooked  more 
tangible  evidence  bearing  on  the  subject.  In  a 
pigeon  hole  we  found  a  German  newspaper,  pub- 
lished in  Berlin  under  date  of  June  1,  1914.  The 
conclusion  was  inevitable  that  the  war  had  sud- 


114  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

denly  called  these  four  men,  if  there  were  four 
men,  to  the  aid  of  the  Fatherland.  If  we  needed 
further  proof  Collier  supplied  it  for  he  later  dis- 
covered on  a  little  hill  back  of  the  buildings  the 
remains  of  a  dismantled  wireless  outfit. 

I  might  here  disgress  to  say  that  the  fate  of 
these  men  was  a  source  of  much  speculation  with 
us  for  years — our  conclusion  being  that  a  general 
call  by  wireless  had  been  made,  on  land  and  sea, 
and  these  men,  faithful  to  tradition,  had  instantly 
responded  to  the  call.  They  may  have  been 
amongst  those  who  went  down  off  the  Patagonian 
coast,  fighting  the  British  fleet. 

In  taking  possession  of  the  premises,  we  felt 
justified  by  the  dictum  that  necessity  knows  no 
law;  but  not  without  agreeing  between  ourselves 
that  we  would  make  just  compensation  to  the  own- 
ers, if  every  they  appeared. 

Skilfully  and  with  incredible  speed,  Mary  Ver- 
non made  our  rough  quarters  into  an  attractive 
and  comfortable  habitation,  sparing  no  pains  to 
make  the  best  of  everything  at  her  disposal — and 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  our  every  necessity 
was  provided  for — we  had  food  in  abundance, 
clothing  sufficient  for  our  simple  needs,  congenial 
companionship  and  a  daily  round  of  activity  that 
kept  our  minds  eagerly  alert. 

This  is,  however,  the  proper  time  and  place 
for  me  to  announce  to  the  reader  that  I  do  not 
purpose  to  give  a  detailed  history  of  our  ten  years 
on  the  island.  If  ever  this  is  done,  it  will  be  in  a 
volume  by  itself.  These  details,  and  the  ones 
recorded,  are  only  incidents;  my  main  purpose 
is  to  show  certain  contrasts  between  1921,  when 


THE   WORLD    IN   1931  115 

we  left  the  shores  of  America,  and  the  year  1931, 
when,  after  these  adventures  (more  or  less  triv- 
ial), we  returned. 

Notwithstanding  this  linn  determination  and 
purpose,  I  would  be  remiss  in  any  approach  to 
manly  qualities,  did  I  not  here  pay  humble  tribute 
to  my  companions.  My  only  wish  is  that  they 
may  now  find  in  their  hearts  one-half  the  feelings 
of  love,  gratitude  and  respect  for  me  that  I  enter- 
tain for  them.  Collier  proved  himself  to  be  a 
man — and  Mary  Vernon  one  of  the  noblest  of 
women. 


PART  TWO 


CHAPTER  VI 

During  our  whole  ten  years  on  the  island  we 
did  not  see  a  human  being,  a  ship  or  even  the 
smoke  of  a  ship — nothing,  in  fact,  which  brought 
us  in  touch  with  the  outside  world  with  one  excep- 
tion, a  wonderful  occurrence  that  took  place  one 
night  in  the  September  of  1930. 

It  was  about  ten  o'clock.  The  evening  was  quite 
warm  and  we  were  sitting  on  a  bluff  near  the 
ocean's  edge  when,  to  our  astonishment,  we  saw 
in  the  Eastern  sky  a  luminous  object  rapidly  ap- 
proaching us.  It  seemed  like  a  star  in  motion, 
coming  directly  towards  us  about  a  mile  from  the 
earth.  Larger  and  larger  it  grew,  until  it  passed 
directly  over  our  heads.  It  was  a  gigantic  air- 
ship, the  main  portion  approximately  two  hundred 
feet  long  and  almost  thirty  feet  wide. 

From  the  time  we  sighted  it  until  it  disappeared 
in  the  Western  skies  was  not  more  than  a  min- 
ute's duration — but  what  a  moment  for  us! 

That  night,  we  sat  for  hours,  speculating  re- 
garding world  affairs  and  world  conditions — but 
we  could  only  speculate. 

We  had  already  given  up  all  hope  of  being 
rescued  by  a  passing  steamer;  still,  we  looked  to 
be  rescued  some  day  by  the  owners  of  this  island 
property  or  their  heirs.  Now  we  had  another 
hope — the  airship! 

The  next  important  event  occurred  in  June  the 
following  year — June,  1931.  We  were  just  finish- 
ing our  midday  meal  when  a  strange  roaring 
sound  brought  us  pell-mell  into  the  open.     We 

119 


120  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

discovered  a  huge  airship  circling  around  over 
the  ocean  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  the 
shore,  apparently  in  the  process  of  making  a 
landing. 

As  the  big  ship  settled  down  on  an  almost 
smooth  sea,  a  door  was  thrown  open  and  two  men 
appeared.  Lowering  a  boat,  they  proceeded  to 
inspect  the  outer  portions  of  the  ship.  We  called 
and  without  delay  they  rowed  to  our  landing  place, 
showing  every  evidence  of  surprise — but  scarcely 
a  one-hundredth  of  the  surprise  and  joy  that  took 
possession  of  us  on  seeing  them. 

From  the  Captain  we  learned  the  incredible 
news  that  he  was  then  bound  from  Melbourne, 
Australia,  to  San  Francisco,  carrying  mail  only 
and,  if  not  delayed  too  much,  would  land  in  San 
Francisco  the  following  evening  at  seven  o'clock. 
In  a  matter  of  fact  tone,  he  informed  us  further 
that  his  ship  was  rather  of  the  slow  type,  averag- 
ing only  about  three  hundred  miles  an  hour  and 
carrying  a  crew  of  only  four  men  but,  if  we 
wished,  we  were  welcome  to  come  along. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  we  proceeded  to 
make  ready  without  delay.  The  most  we  had  to 
do  was  change  our  clothes.  We  reappeared  in 
the  same  dress  we  had  on  when  we  landed  on  the 
island,  little  faded  or  worn,  for  we  had  used  the 
clothing  and  other  materials  found  in  abundance 
in  the  storehouse,  saving  our  own  for  special  oc- 
casions and  this  was  a  very  special  occasion. 

We  had  been  overcome  with  joy  when  the  air- 
ship first  arrived;  but  an  indescribable  feeling 
took  possession  of  each  of  us  as  we  prepared  for 
our    departure.     Scarcely   a   word   was    spoken. 


THE   WORLD    IN   1931  121 

When  the  doors  were  finally  closed  behind  us, 
Mary  Vernon's  eyes  filled  with  tears  and  Collier 
seemed  to  have  some  difficulty  with  his  throat. 

We  joined  the  Captain  and,  after  climbing 
aboard  the  airship,  prepared  to  pay  him  for  our 
transportation.  To  our  surprise,  he  refused  to 
accept  our  money,  either  for  himself,  the  govern- 
ment who  owned  the  ship  or  the  crew — stating 
that  we  might  need  all  our  meagre  resources  until 
we  had  become  settled  again.  We  were  assigned 
to  separate  compartments  and  informed  that  our 
meals  would  be  served  in  our  rooms,  but  that,  ow- 
ing to  the  illness  of  one  of  his  assistants,  the  Cap- 
tain himself  could  give  us  little  of  his  personal 
attention. 

Almost  before  we  realized  it,  we  were  up  among 
the  clouds,  apparently  standing  still  with  the  earth 
running  away  from  us! 

In  the  course  of  an  hour,  we  were  sufficiently 
composed  to  leave  our  compartments  and  visit 
the  salon,  which  proved  to  be  as  attractively  fitted 
up  and  as  comfortable  as  that  of  an  ocean  liner 
in  calm  weather. 

The  night  and  following  day  passed  without 
incident.  About  eight  o'clock  on  the  following 
evening,  thousands  of  lights  suddenly  came  in 
view — the  lights  of  San  Francisco!  Within  five 
minutes  we  were  securely  docked  and  again  on 

American  soil. 

******* 

On  the  pretext  that  we  needed  a  few  days  of 
rest  before  taking  up  our  several  occupations  in 
the  world  from  which  we  had  been  so  long  re- 
moved, the  Captain  generously  invited  us  to  be 


122  THE    WOBLD    IN   1931 

his  guests  at  his  home  in  the  suburbs.  Gratefully 
we  accepted  his  invitation  and  were  soon  seated 
in  the  light  automobile  which  was  to  carry  us  to 
our  destination.  We  observed  that  it  was  a  type 
identical  to  hundreds  of  others  to  be  seen  on  every 
hand. 

We  drove  through  a  short,  crowded  street — then 
into  a  main  artery  above  which  there  was  an 
elevated  structure  which  we  supposed  was  for 
trains.  We  drove  up  an  incline,  however,  and 
discovered  that  it  was  a  broad  motor  driveway 
which  passed  through  the  congested  portion  of 
the  city  and  did  not  reach  level  ground  again  until 
far  out.  Here  the  roads  were  wide  and  beautiful, 
far  surpassing  anything  we  had  ever  before  seen. 

When  I  commented  on  the  many  wonderful 
civic  improvements,  the  Captain  volunteered  the 
information  that  everywhere  throughout  the 
country  an  equal  improvement  could  be  noticed. 
Across  the  continent  from  North  to  South  and 
from  East  to  West,  he  said,  paved  thoroughfares, 
equally  as  good  as  the  one  we  were  passing  over, 
had  been  built.  I  expressed  my  amazement, 
largely  on  account  of  the  vast  expense,  but  the 
Captain  only  smiled: 

1  i  Since  you  withdrew  from  the  world  in  1921, ' ' 
he  said,  "our  whole  conception  has  completely 
changed  regarding  economics  and  government. 
We  have  had  our  lessons  and  have  profited 
by  them.  We  foolishly  spent,  as  you  remember, 
twenty-five  billions  of  dollars  on  a  useless  war — 
twenty-five  billions  of  labor  and  the  products  of 
labor  wasted  on  an  insane  folly.  Since  then  we 
have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  we  could  bet- 


THE    WORLD   IN   1931  123 

ter  spend  our  billions  on  necessary  improvements 
and  eliminate  unnecessary  waste.  "We  were  able 
to  do  this,  and  a  thousand  other  necessary  things, 
without  much  difficulty,  for,  if  you  remember,  in 
1921  we  had  seven  millions  of  men  idle  and  had, 
therefore,  lost  their  productive  power,  not  know- 
ing how  to  place  them  to  work.  Now,  all  are  at 
work  and  what  appears  to  you  as  a  miracle  is  only 
something  very  natural. 

"In  two  years  time,  we  squandered  twenty-five 
billions  in  waste — for  war.  Have  you  ever  con- 
sidered what  that  expenditure  of  labor  would 
have  meant  for  the  things  of  peace?  With  that 
amount,  we  could  have  built  ten  million  homes 
worth  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  each, 
enough  to  house  comfortably  fifty  millions  of  peo- 
ple; or  we  could  have  constructed  five  million 
miles  of  paved  roads  as  good  as  the  one  you  are 
now  riding  on — a  road  nearly  long  enough  to 
reach  to  the  moon. 

"Under  our  present  economic  and  social  sys- 
tem— the  system  that  came  into  being  since  you 
left  America — we  have  had  no  unemployed  and 
no  drones  in  the  hive — at  least,  if  there  are  any 
drones,  they  receive  very  little  honey  and  as  a 
species  they  will  soon  be  extinct." 

Miss  Vernon  broke  in  at  this  point  to  ask  how 
it  happened  that  nearly  every  automobile  that 
passed  us  was  of  the  same  inexpensive  type  as 
the  one  in  which  we  were  riding  and  why  there 
were  no  limousines  as  in  former  years. 

The  Captain  laughed  heartily  at  the  question. 
"I  knew  you  would  soon  notice  this  change  and 
have  been  wondering  why  vou  did  not  ask  that 


124  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

question  sooner.  To  make  a  long  story  short," 
he  went  on,  ''if  any  person  were  to  appear  on  the 
streets  with  a  luxurious  limousine  now,  instead  of 
being  the  object  of  admiration  and  envy,  as  in 
your  day,  they  now  would  be  the  object  of  pity, 
scorn  or  suspicion  and  all  would  ask:  'Where 
did  he  steal  the  money  to  get  such  an  expensive 
machine?'  In  any  case,  such  a  display  would  be 
looked  upon  as  vulgar  and  in  bad  taste. ' ' 

The  Captain  saw  that  we  were  drinking  in  every 
word,  but  we  noticed  he  carefully  confined  his  re- 
marks to  perfectly  obvious  things,  with  only  an 
occasional  hint  to  prepare  us  for  the  greater 
revelations  to  come. 

' '  I  will  explain  the  reason, ' '  he  continued,  ' '  for 
the  uniform  type  of  automobile  you  now  see 
everywhere.  Our  new  government  has  realized 
that  transportation  is  as  vital  to  the  people  as  air, 
land  or  sunshine.  They,  therefore,  selected  an 
efficient  but  inexpensive  model  for  universal  use 
and  opened  factories  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
to  turn  these  machines  out  by  the  millions — at 
cost. 

"You  may  remember  that  during  1913  Henry 
Ford,  who  used  to  manufacture  automobiles 
in  the  city  of  Detroit,  announced  that  he  would 
soon  deliver  a  car  to  the  American  consumer  at 
$250.  The  war  came  on  and  instead  the  price  was 
increased  to  $500. 

' '  The  car  you  are  now  riding  in,  which  you  will 
agree  is  satisfactory  in  every  way,  can  be  pur- 
chased today  for  less  than  one-half  of  the  price 
promised  by  Ford  in  1913.  The  price  of  this  car, 
and  the  others  you  see  everywhere,  is  in  the  neigh- 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  125 

borhood  of  $125.  Furthermore,  there  are  now  no 
styles  in  cars,  as  in  1921.  They  are  all  made  for 
comfort  and  utility,  thereby  catering  to  the  wel- 
fare and  happiness  of  the  greatest  number  of 
people. 

' '  You  will  agree  that  the  automobile  is  a  neces- 
sity— would  you  not  prefer  to  live  under  a  system 
of  government  which  makes  it  possible  for  five 
people  k)  have  a  car  of  this  type  instead  of  one  to 
have  a  car  of  the  old  Packard  type,  which  repre- 
sented wealth  in  its  extreme  form  in  those  days? 
I  am  sure  it  is  a  much  more  pleasing  sight  to  see 
all  of  our  people  sharing  the  advantages  of  such 
a  wonderful  means  of  transportation  as  the  auto- 
mobile, than  to  observe  throngs  of  people  stand- 
ing in  the  rain,  or  blazing  heat  on  street  corners, 
wasting  valuable  time  waiting  for  old-fashioned 
trolley  cars — each  filled  with  envy  as  an  occasional 
ten  thousand  dollar  limousine  rolls  by  containing 
milady,  her  sensitive  nose  in  the  air.  One  such 
luxurious  equipment  represents  sufficient  money 
to  supply  the  needs  of  twenty  people  (when  prop- 
erly distributed)  instead  of  the  whims  of  one." 

After  an  hour's  ride,  we  arrived  at  the  Cap- 
tain's home — a  neat  and  modest  colonial  bunga- 
low of  six  or  seven  rooms,  situated  in  the  center 
of  an  attractive  little  garden. 

We  were  cordially  received  by  his  wife  who, 
no  doubt,  had  been  apprized  of  our  coming.  We 
were  made  to  feel  at  home  from  the  moment  of 
our  entry,  the  true  essence  of  hospitality.  And 
who  can  describe  hospitality?  Like  the  perfume 
of  a  rose,  it  cannot  be  conveyed  in  words.    It  is 


126  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

rather  an  intoxicating  emanation  that  puts  the 
stranger  at  ease — by  the  fragrance  of  charity, 
the  warmth  of  human  affection  and  the  light  of 
understanding. 

The  Captain's  household  consisted  of  his  wife, 
a  fair  rosy-cheeked  daughter  of  five  years  and  his 
wife's  bachelor  brother,  a  professor  of  economics 
in  the  University  at  Berkeley. 

The  Captain  was  not  long  in  making  known 
the  essential  details  of  our  adventure,  all  of  which 
brought  forth  every  expression  of  sympathy  from 
his  wife  and  much  interest  from  her  brother,  the 
professor.  They  all  realized  and  appreciated 
what  was  uppermost  in  our  minds.  Their  chief 
thought  was  how  best  to  convey  to  us,  in  the 
shortest  time,  the  world  events  of  the  past  ten 
years.  The  task  was  delegated  to  the  professor, 
who  welcomed  the  opportunity  of  speaking  to  so 
interested  and  appreciative  a  little  audience — for 
he  himself  had  no  small  part  in  working  out  the 
details  of  the  great  social  and  political  change 
that  he  was  about  to  describe. 

After  dinner,  at  the  professor's  suggestion,  we 
adjoined  to  the  piazza.  The  night  was  delight- 
fully warm.  We  seated  ourselves  in  comfortable 
chairs  while  the  professor  arranged  a  number  of 
printed  pamphlets,  as  it  appeared,  for  easy  refer- 
ence. Then,  rather  deliberately  as  though  pre- 
paring for  a  sustained  effort,  he  began : 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  PROFESSOR'S  STORY 

As  you  can  have  little  or  no  conception  of  what 
has  taken  place  in  the  world  within  the  last  ten 
years,  it  will  be  necessary  to  begin  at  the  be- 
ginning. 

You  will  remember  the  devasting  effect  of  the 
World  War  and  the  almost  equally  great  calamity 
that  followed  it,  the  calamity  of  the  Peace  Settle- 
ment. As  a  result  of  these  two  scourges,  Europe 
was  rendered  almost  insane  and,  besides,  hope- 
lessly bankrupt. 

Things  drifted  from  bad  to  worse,  with  no  effort 
by  leadership  of  any  kind  to  stop  the  drift  to  de- 
struction. American  leadership  was  utterly  dis- 
credited, deemed  by  all  Europe  as  infantile,  selfish 
and  insincere.  Each  country  clung  to  its  de- 
lusions and  followed  in  the  ambitious  path  of 
selfish  nationalism  in  an  atmosphere  of  envy, 
jealousy  and  hate. 

The  only  country  to  make  a  sincere  and  en- 
lightened effort  to  break  her  chains  of  bondage 
was  Russia.  That  unfortunate  country,  you  will 
remember,  was  rushed  into  war  in  1914  by  her 
ambitions  rulers  and,  as  a  result  of  that  war,  was 
thoroughly  beaten  in  the  field  and  rendered  bank- 
rupt besides. 

The  Russian  people  took  advantage  of  this  con- 
dition to  create  a  new  order — free  from  the 
tyranny  of  both  Czarism  and  Capitalism.  While 
mourning   for   her   millions    slain,   maimed   and 

127 


128  THE   WORLD    IN    1931 

wounded,  with  poverty  and  pestilence  stalking  up 
and  down  the  land,  these  brave  people  began  the 
erection  of  a  new  social  and  political  structure. 
Instantly  they  were  attacked  on  every  side  from 
without — without  even  the  formality  of  a  declara- 
tion of  war.  Capitalism  inspired  these  attacks — 
the  Capitalism  of  France,  England  and  America. 
For  months  the  Russian  people  saw  their  lands 
invaded,  for  reasons  that  were  never  made  clear 
to  them,  and  at  times  were  compelled  to  fight  on 
as  many  as  seventeen  battle  fronts.  All  trade 
relations  with  the  world  were  severed  and  the 
starvation  process,  which  proved  so  successful 
in  enforcing  the  will  of  the  Allies  on  Germany, 
was  adopted. 

Thus,  the  most  important  experiment  in  the 
history  of  self-government  was  nullified  by  the 
might  and  power  of  autocratic  Capitalism,  which 
still  held  sway  over  the  peoples  of  the  world.  But 
Capitalism  little  knew  that  it  was  riding  to  its 
fall. 

France  headed  the  forces  which  were  to  lead 
Europe  to  anarchy  and  ruin  by  endeavoring  to 
enslave  Germany  and  seeking  her  destruction. 

Germany  became  unable  to  meet  the  obligations 
under  the  Treaty  of  Versailles  and  France  used 
this  as  a  pretext  to  seize  a  large  portion  of  Ger- 
man territory.  The  workers  of  France  protested 
but  to  no  avail.  A  million  men  were  thrown  into 
Germany.  The  Poles  took  advantage  of  this  con- 
dition of  affairs  and  seized  Silesia,  then  further 
took  advantage  of  Russian  poverty  and  took  pos- 
session of  a  large  strip  of  Russian  territory. 

England  now  became  alarmed  and  declared  war 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  129 

on  France.  In  spite  of  the  protests  of  British 
workmen,  a  huge  army  was  despatched  to  Ger- 
many. Europe  was  now  ablaze !  Uprisings  took 
place  in  nearly  every  country.  Open  rebellion 
against  all  authority  was  soon  the  order  of  the 
day. 

A  reign  of  terror  began  in  France.  Public 
officials  were  shot  down  on  the  streets.  Public 
buildings  were  blazing  from  one  end  of  France 
to  the  other.  Soon  the  cry  was  heard  in  France, 
England  and  Germany:  "This  is  another  Capi- 
talist war — Wipe  out  Capitalism ! ' ' 

A  crowd  of  half  a  million  men  and  women  sur- 
rounded the  French  Chamber  of  Deputies.  Re- 
luctantly their  spokesmen  were  admitted.  The 
leader,  Leon  Vinet,  stepped  boldly  on  the  rostrum 
and  demanded  to  be  heard.  I  am  fortunate  in 
having  at  hand  a  copy  of  his  speech  and  will 
read  it  word  for  word : 
"Servants  of  the  Public: 

"In  behalf  of  the  people,  your  masters,  I  come 
to  you  to  make  known  their  solemn  and  sovereign 
will.  I  present  no  credentials,  signed  and  sealed, 
but  if  you  doubt  my  authority,  step  to  yon 
windows  and  let  the  sullen  murmurs  that  will 
come  to  your  ears  be  your  answer. 

"In  behalf  of  the  workers  of  France,  the  men 
and  women  who  made  France,  I  demand  that  you 
at  once  withdraw  every  French  soldier  from  Ger- 
man soil.  I  demand  that  you  immediately  pass  a 
law  that  never  again,  for  any  reason,  will  a  soldier 
of  France  ever  be  compelled  to  pass  beyond  our 
frontier. 

"In  behalf  of  the  workers  of  France,  the  peo- 


130  THE    WOELD    IN    1931 

pie  of  France,  I  demand  that  you  cancel  every 
dollar  of  the  German  indemnity.  That  indemnity 
has  proved  a  curse  instead  of  a  blessing.  We 
do  not  want  German  workers  to  toil  for  us — men 
and  women  who  were  no  more  guilty  of  the  war 
than  we. 

"You  have  already  collected  billions  of  gold 
from  Germany.  Who  got  it?  Not  the  producers. 
Every  franc  of  it  went  to  millionaire  munition 
profiteers.  You  brought  in  cargoes  of  German 
goods.  And  what  happened?  Our  factory  bosses 
came  to  us  and  told  us  that,  owing  to  the  influx 
of  German  goods,  the  market  was  temporarily 
supplied  and  our  services  would  no  longer  be 
required.  Are  the  workmen  of  France  to  remain 
idle,  and  their  families  starve,  while  you  collect 
your  accursed  indemnity! 

"We  do  not  want  German  territory,  nor  do  we 
want  Alsace-Lorraine — unless  Alsace-Lorraine  by 
a  fair  plebiscite  decides  to  remain  with  us. 
Neither  do  we  want  German  iron  mines  nor  Ger- 
man coal  mines.  What  do  our  Capitalist  ex- 
ploiters intend  doing  with  these  mines?  Is  it 
necessary  that  I  should  tell  you?  Are  you  so 
blind  as  not  to  see  their  aims  and  ambitions? 
With  these  mines  they  will  exploit  French  labor 
for  world  markets.  They  will  drive  us  into 
slavery  to  compete  with  England  and  Japan  and 
England  and  Japan  will  enslave  their  people  to 
compete  with  us. 

"We  do  not  want  foreign  markets  for  our  sur- 
plus goods.  Give  us  the  right  kind  of  an  indus- 
trial system  in  this  country  and  we  will  have  no 
surplus  goods,  but  those  which  we  will  barter  on 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  131 

fair  terms  for  equal  value  in  the  natural  products 
of  other  countries. 

"Give  us  an  industrial  system  whereby  labor 
will  receive  out  of  the  reservoir  of  wealth  an 
equal  amount  of  what  it  puts  in  and  we  will  not 
have  to  find  markets  for  our  surplus  commodi- 
ties— there  will  be  no  surplus  if  we  fill  the  bellies 
and  cover  the  backs  of  our  own  people. 

"In  the  name  of  the  people  of  France,  the 
producers  of  France,  I  demand : 

"First:  That  you  bring  our  soldiers  home  at 
once. 

"Second:  That  you  will  never  again  use  a  citi- 
zen in  military  service  for  anything  but  self  de- 
fense, within  our  own  country. 

"Third:  That  you  give  Alsace-Lorraine  the 
privilege  of  declaring  by  vote  with  which  country 
she  wishes  to  unite. 

"Fourth:  That  the  German  Indemnity  be  can- 
celled. 

"Fifth:  That  all  internal  war  debts  be  can- 
celled. 

"Sixth:  That  you  proceed  at  once,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  representative  producers  of  France, 
to  make  of  this  country  a  co-operative,  profit- 
sharing  commonwealth." 

Scarcely  had  these  demands  been  presented 
when  a  terrible  outcry  was  heard  from  the  streets. 
Someone  in  authority  had  ordered  a  company  of 
soldiers  to  charge  on  the  crowd.  Hundreds  were 
shot  or  trampled  to  death.  Infuriated,  the  mob 
surged  into  the  Chamber,  drove  the  Deputies  into 
the  streets  and  took  possession  of  the  Assembly 
Rooms.  Thousands  invaded  the  Bourse  and  drove 
the  members  out  on  the  streets. 


132  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

The  mob  leaders  seated  themselves  in  the  law- 
making chamber,  declared  for  a  co-operative 
commonwealth  and  proceeded  to  frame  enact- 
ments to  carry  out  that  purpose. 

The  army,  in  the  name  of  the  President,  was 
ordered  to  retake  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  but 
refused  and,  instead,  joined  the  insurgents.  A 
mob  started  for  the  President's  official  residence 
but,  before  it  could  be  reached,  he  took  flight, 
together  with  his  cabinet,  for  Switzerland. 

Practically  the  same  thing  took  place  in  Eng- 
land for  the  workers  of  France,  England  and 
even  Germany  were  working  in  unison.  Before 
long,  Europe  was  in  the  throes  of  a  mighty  revo- 
lution with  its  attendant  horrors,  bloodshed  and 
destruction. 

The  convulsion  began  to  shake  complacent 
America.  Strike  followed  strike  in  rapid  suc- 
cession. Many  thousand  jobless  war  veterans 
joined  the  strikers  and  turbulent  mobs. 

One  morning,  placards  were  found  on  dead 
walls  and  billboards  in  every  town,  city  and  vil- 
lage from  Atlantic  to  Pacific} — demanding  the 
establishment  of  a  co-operative,  profit-sharing 
commonwealth. 

Capital  became  panic  stricken.  Was  there  no 
way  that  America,  yet  intact,  could  be  saved  the 
conflagrations  which  had  engulfed  their  brethren 
in  Europe?  Capital  was  now  willing  to  com- 
promise— if  a  compromise  was  not  too  late. 
Leaders  held  hurried  conferences  in  New  York 
and  decided  to  call  a  meeting  of  five  hundred  of 
their  kind  to  be  held  five  days  later  at  the  little 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  133 

City  of  Marion,   Ohio,  which  was  central — and, 
at  the  same  time,  safe  from  interference. 

Not  a  man  was  present  who  did  not  show,  by 
his  actions  and  speech,  that  he  considered  the 
capitalistic  game  was  up.  The  only  hope  now 
was  in  their  willingness  to  compromise — their 
disposition  to  divide  with  the  real  creators  of 
wealth  that  which  they  had  helped  to  create.  They 
knew  their  adversaries  had  no  desire  to  ruin  the 
country,  though  in  a  sense  it  is  often  necessary 
to  tear  down  a  portion  of  the  old,  in  order  to 
bring  forth  the  new. 

Acting  on  this  sure  knowledge  and  convic- 
tion, they  deemed  it  wise  to  ask  for  a  compromise 
meeting.  To  this  end  they  wired  their  henchmen 
in  Congress  and  their  good  friend,  the  President, 
to  ask  for  a  conference  of  labor  and  capital,  to 
the  end  that  some  new  system  might  be  devised, 
by  constitutional  means,  by  which  the  country 
might  be  saved  from  hardships  and  industrial 
justice  might  prevail. 

The  President  took  warmly  to  the  idea,  care- 
fully pointing  out  in  his  proclamation  that  a 
movement  such  as  this  should  have  been  started 
long  ago.  The  invitation  came  as  no  surprise  to 
the  leaders  of  the  industrial  groups,  but  inspired 
some  suspicion  nevertheless.  They  notified  the 
chief  executive  that  his  invitation  would  be  ac- 
cepted only  on  the  following  conditions : 

First :  That  the  meeting  be  held  in  Washington 
within  ten  days. 

Second :  That  all  governmental  interests  should 
be  represented,  including  Congress,  the  President 
and  Members  of  the  Supreme  Court. 


134  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

Third:  That  every  person  entering  the  conven- 
tion should  pledge  himself  not  to  consider  self  or 
any  selfish  interests  during  the  deliberations,  but 
that  his  only  thought  should  be  to  produce  the 
greatest  good  for  the  greatest  number. 

Fourth :  That  the  principles  of  co-operation  and 
profit-sharing  be  recognized  and  the  question  of  a 
co-operative  commonwealth  be  considered  seri- 
ously— on  the  principle,  which  was  deemed 
axiomatic,  that  "He  who  does  not  work  shall  not 
eat,  but  he  who  cannot  get  work  and  he  who  can- 
not work  must  be  fed." 

The  great  convention  followed.  More  than  two 
thousand  men  and  women,  representing  all  walks 
of  life,  were  in  attendance.  All  members  of  the 
Congress  and  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
were  present  and  the  President,  without  opposi- 
tion, was  elected  Chairman. 

Without  delay,  the  President  requested  that 
three  leaders  of  the  industrial  groups  be  named 
who  should  present  the  views  and  aspirations  of 
those  who  sought  a  change  in  the  present  order  of 
things.  An  adjournment  of  one  hour  was  ordered 
so  that  these  men  could  be  selected. 

When  the  convention  assembled,  it  was  found 
that  only  one  man  had  been  chosen  as  the  official 
spokesman  for  the  purposes  named.  This  man 
proved  to  be  the  head  of  the  Producer's  Fed- 
eration. 

When  he  ascended  the  platform  to  address  the 
convention,  he  was  cordially  received  by  all.  He 
began  by  showing  the  manifest  unfairness  of  our 
present  system,  pointed  out  the  enslaving  and 
evil  effects  of  capital,  went  deeply  into  the  sub- 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  135 

ject  of  unemployment  and  showed  by  figures  the 
great  gulf  that  had  been  created  between  the  pro- 
ducer and  the  ultimate  consumer.  On  that  point 
he  quoted  the  very  figures  announced  by  a  com- 
mittee of  Congress,  which  had  just  then  been 
published,  to  illustrate  his  contention.  These 
figures  showed  that  out  of  every  hundred  dollars 
spent  by  the  American  consumer,  the  producer 
received  only  thirty-seven  dollars,  while  sixty- 
three  dollars  went  for  profits  and  service.  These 
figures  caused  a  marked  sensation.  He  went  on 
to  explain  the  advantages  of  a  co-operative,  profit- 
sharing  commonwealth.  He  closed  by  saying  that 
those  whom  he  represented  only  wanted  what  was 
fair.  He  realized  that  changing  from  a  capital- 
istic system  to  the  one  he  desired  would  bring  a 
certain  amount  of  suffering,  but  it  would  be  the 
suffering  of  the  few  for  the  good  of  the  many. 
It  would  be  a  new  birth  and  all  births  are  accom- 
panied by  suffering.  It  was  his  desire,  and  the 
desire  of  those  whom  he  represented,  to  make  the 
operation  as  painless  as  possible ;  and  if  all  would 
work  together  unselfishly,  there  would  be  very  lit- 
tle suffering  for,  after  all  was  over,  it  would  be 
discovered  that  even  those  who  had  suffered 
momentarily  (more  in  mind  than  in  body)  would 
live  to  feel  many  times  rewarded  for  what  they 
had,  at  the  time,  reluctantly  given  up. 

The  speech  was  received  with  thunders  of  ap- 
plause. It  was  noted  that  nearly  everyone  present 
showed  evidence  of  approval. 

It  was  several  moments  before  anyone  took  the 
floor  to  address  the  meeting.  The  first  was  a 
Judge  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  who 


136  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

complimented  the  speaker  on  his  moderation  and 
fairness  and  suggested  that  matters  could  be 
facilitated  by  the  naming  of  a  Committee  of  Fifty, 
who  should  get  together  and  work  out  a  plan,  on 
the  lines  indicated  by  the  previous  speaker,  and 
that  the  findings  of  this  Committee  be  presented 
to  Congress  so  that  they  might  be  enacted  into 
laws.  He  urged  further  that  Congress  be  hereby 
requested  to  follow  the  mandates  of  the  Commit- 
tee until  the  following  election. 

A  vote  was  taken  and  carried  with  but  few 
dissenting.  The  Committee  of  Fifty  was  named, 
with  power  to  add  to  their  numbers  should  occa- 
sion require,  and  the  convention  came  to  a 
close. 

The  best  of  feeling  prevailed  on  every  hand. 
The  industrial  groups  were  jubilant,  but  re- 
pressed their  feelings.  It  was  observed  that  the 
capitalistic  group  showed  every  evidence  of  re- 
lief. 

The  Committee  began  its  duties  the  following 
day  with  a  sense  of  the  transcendent  responsi- 
bility that  had  been  placed  on  its  shoulders — a 
responsibility  and  a  trust  that  none  had  the  least 
idea  of  evading.  Each  knew  the  sentiment  of  the 
world  and  the  temper  of  America  and  his  only 
thought  was  to  register  accurately,  in  legislation, 
public  opinion  and  the  public  will. 

Their  first  act  was  to  issue  a  proclamation  ad- 
dressed to  the  employers  and  the  employees  of 
the  country. 

Employers  were  to  go  ahead  with  their  dif- 
ferent enterprises  as  usual,  not  to  slacken  pro- 


THE    WORLD   IN    1931  137 

duction  in  any  way,  and  were  to  send  at  once  a 
detailed  statement  of  their  activities  to  Wash- 
ington— with  the  further  injunction  that  any 
effort  to  slacken  production  and  discharge  work- 
men, in  anticipation  of  the  coming  change,  would 
render  their  establishments  liable  to  seizure  by 
the  government  and  subsequent  operation  as  a 
public  enterprise. 

Employees  were  urged  to  increase  production, 
forget  their  past  grievances  and  be  patient  until 
such  time  as  the  Committee  could  perfect  its 
legislative  and  executive  machinery.  They  were 
reminded  that  the  evils  to  be  remedied  had  not 
been  born  in  a  day  nor  could  they  be  cured  in  a 
day. 

The  proclamation  ended  with  a  stirring  appeal 
for  the  loyal  co-operation  of  all  citizens  while 
this  important  work  was  in  progress. 

As  a  result,  industiy  and  commerce  went  on 
largely  as  usual,  many  factories  reporting  in- 
creased production.  Some  owners  of  factories, 
however,  did  not  take  kindly  to  the  new  idea  and 
promptly  closed  their  establishments  until  condi- 
tions became  settled.  One  of  the  largest  of  these 
was  a  chair  factory  in  Philadelphia  employing 
one  thousand  hands — another  a  clothing  factory 
in  Rochester  employing  fifteen  hundred. 

The  Committee  at  once  seized  the  factories,  re- 
questing the  men  to  go  back  to  work,  and  placed 
each  factory  in  charge  of  an  executive  committee, 
consisting  of  the  heads  of  different  departments, 
with  orders  to  run  the  business  as  usual  and  to 
hold  themselves  strictly  accountable  to  the  govern- 
ment until  relieved  of  their  duties. 


138  THE    WOELD    IN   1931 

The  employees  were  told  that  these  establish- 
ments, from  then  on,  would  be  profit-sharing, 
which  would  necessitate  a  readjustment  of  wages. 
To  this  end  an  immediate  wage  reduction  of  one- 
third  was  made  which  was  overcome  or  replaced 
by  the  sharing  of  profits,  which  were  estimated 
to  be  much  in  excess  of  the  third  they  had  sur- 
rendered. 

In  ten  days  the  Manager  of  the  chair  factory 
reported  an  increase  of  15  per  cent  in  output  and 
the  clothing  factory  reported  an  increase  of  18 
per  cent. 

Approximately  one  hundred  factories  in  all 
stopped  operations  and  were  promptly  taken  over 
by  the  government.  All  wages  were  reduced  by 
one-third,  but  profit-sharing  was  instituted  in  all 
cases.  The  principle  laid  down  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  the  one  that  has  been  adhered  to  all 
the  way  through,  is  that  a  factory  must  first  of  all 
pay  its  employees  a  living  wage,  scientifically  de- 
termined, then,  after  all  costs  had  been  deducted, 
divide  the  remaining  profit  amongst  employees 
arid  management. 

It  was  recognized  that  in  the  case  of  animals, 
such  as  horses,  the  owners  of  industry  were 
obliged  to  provide  food  and  shelter  to  conserve 
their  strength  and  usefulness.  Under  the  new 
system,  the  difference  between  the  animal  em- 
ployed and  the  man  employed  was  that  the  man 
worker,  first  of  all,  was  guaranteed  sufficient  to 
keep  him  and  his  dependents  in  the  necessities 
of  life  and  then  was  assured  something  more  than 
the  animals  received — share  of  the  increase  over 
cost  (due  to  his  labor)   in  the  form  of  profits; 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  139 

in  other  words,  he  was  guaranteed  a  bare  living, 
plus  an  honest  share  in  the  natural  increase  of 
wealth. 

For  the  future  information  of  the  Committee,  a 
survey  was  taken  of  the  labor  resources  of  the 
United  States.  All  men  between  eighteen  and 
fifty-nine  were  required  to  register  in  their  re- 
spective localities.  This  was  handled  precisely  in 
the  same  manner  that  the  government  conducted 
the  selective  draft  during  the  great  war. 

Each  person  was  required  to  state  his  age,  pres- 
ent occupation  and  description  of  work  per- 
formed, past  experience  and  the  kind  of  work  he 
deemed  himself  best  suited  to  perform.  In  this 
way,  the  government  was  in  a  position  to  call  im- 
mediately on  competent  men,  either  for  produc- 
tive labor  or  for  managerial  capacity,  to  man  and 
manage  any  plant  or  industry  that  had  to  be  taken 
over  by  the  government. 

Each  government  industry  was  provided  with 
sufficient  funds,  through  the  local  banks,  to  tem- 
porarily finance  the  business. 

It  must  be  made  plain  here  that  it  was  not  the 
wish  of  the  Committee  that  the  government  take 
over  or  run  any  industry,  outside  of  those  that 
were  purely  of  a  public  character,  but  stood  ready 
to  step  in  and  take  over  any  necessary  industry 
when  the  original  owners  refused  to  co-operate  on 

the  plans  decided  upon. 

******* 

The  most  important  announcement  yet  made 
related  to  the  government  plan  to  begin  the  erec- 
tion of  five  hundred  thousand  houses  to  be  sold 
on  the  installment  plan,  the  time  for  payments  to 


140  THE   WORLD    IN   1931 

run  over  a  long  period  of  years.  Houses  were  to 
be  sold  at  cost  and  sold  independent  of  the  land. 
So  long  as  the  purchaser  paid  a  ground  rent  tax 
and  kept  up  his  installments  reasonably,  he  had 
full  use  for  all  time  of  both  the  house  and  the 
land  upon  which  it  stood.  The  question  of  inter- 
est, for  the  present,  was  left  in  abeyance  for  fu- 
ture consideration,  although  it  was  hinted  that  the 
interest  would  be  very  nominal. 

The  committee  also  announced  that  a  billion 
dollars  would  be  spent  at  once  for  the  construc- 
tion of  roads,  bridges  and  for  land  reclamation 
throughout  the  country. 

But  the  announcement  which  caused  more  in- 
terest than  any  yet  promulgated  was  the  manner 
in  which  these  enterprises  were  to  be  financed. 

All  government  expenditures  were  to  be  met 
by  Labor  Certificates  in  denominations  of  one  to 
fifty  dollars,  based  on  actual  labor  performed  for 
the  State.  Labor  was  to  create  value  for  the  State 
equivalent  to  the  total  amount  of  money  issued 
and  the  Certificates  issued  in  payment  were  to  be 
redeemable,  not  in  useless  gold,  but  in  that  prac- 
tical unit  of  value  in  all  lands — wheat — and  later 
on  by  all  products.  (Detail  of  this  will  be  given 
later.) 

To  this  end,  and  for  purposes  I  will  later  refer 
to,  the  Committee  announced  that  all  grain  ele- 
vators would  be  taken  over  by  the  government 
and  the  price  of  wheat  scientifically  determined 
by  government  experts  instead  of  Chicago  specu- 
lators. In  other  words,  the  value  of  a  bushel  of 
wheat  would  be  determined  by  the  actual  cost  of 
producing  that  bushel  of  wheat — arrived  at  by 
the   average    cost   of   labor   that   went   into   the 


THE   WORLD    IN   1931  141 

creation  of  the  average  article  produced  in  the 
country. 

Now,  I  wish  to  say  a  word  regarding  the  new 
basis  for  our  currency. 

Heretofore,  mankind  had  gone  down  into  the 
bowels  of  the  earth  and  dug  out  a  metal.  Then, 
for  so  many  grains  of  that  metal  they  issued  a 
paper  Certificate  and  called  it  money.  That  Cer- 
tificate was  valuable  for  the  reason  that  it  repre- 
sented so  much  labor. 

Of  course,  you  could  not  eat  the  gold  or  use  it 
except  for  ornamentation.  The  gold  was  stored 
away  in  dark  vaults  and  rarely  ever  saw  the  light 
of  day.  People  did  not  want  it  and,  although 
they  could  get  it  (or  some  of  it  at  least)  in  return 
for  their  Certificates,  they  rarely  ever  asked  for  it. 

For  the  reason  that  people  never  asked  for  the 
gold,  excepting  in  very  rare  instances,  some  crafty 
men  took  advantage  of  this  knowledge  and 
through  powers  granted  them  by  the  government, 
proceeded  to  issue  three  Certificates  against  a 
given  quantity  of  gold  where  only  one  Certificate 
was  originally  intended — then  took  these  extra 
Certificates,  loaned  them  to  the  people  and  lived 
and  fattened  on  the  profits  that  resulted  there- 
from. 

It  will  be  seen  therefore,  that  in  order  to  get  a 
basis  for  Money  before  our  present  system  came 
into  effect,  we  had  to  give  millions  of  days  labor 
beneath  the  earth's  surface. 

But  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  it  was  labor 
that  made  gold  valuable,  made  it  "sacred."  This 
is  true,  even  though  it  proved  useless  for  any  pur- 
pose to  sustain  life  after  it  was  mined. 

Now,  the  new  money  issued  by  the  government 


142  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

(the  Labor  Certificates)  was  also  based  on  labor, 
but  on  labor  which  resulted  in  some  good  to  hu- 
manity, not  the  kind  that  had  to  be  stored  away 
in  dark  vaults. 

The  people  wanted  roads  and  bridges,  waste 
lands  reclaimed  and  made  productive.  All  these 
added  real  wealth  to  the  country,  wealth  that  made 
for  human  comforts  and  happiness. 

Under  the  old  system,  a  ten  dollar  bill  or  cer- 
tificate was  valuable  and  "sacred"  because  it 
represented  labor  in  a  form  that  was  useful  only 
as  an  ornament — then  why  not  a  ten  dollar  bill  or 
certificate  based  on  a  tangible  and  useful  product 
of  labor? 

The  construction  of  necessary  roads  and  public 
improvements  began.  The  Committee  had  in  mind 
two  things — the  creation  of  something  for  comfort 
and  utility  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  people  and 
at  the  same  time  a  means  to  effectually  reduce 
unemployment,  for  thereby  the  country  would  in- 
crease its  tangible  wealth  and,  in  addition,  relief 
would  be  brought  to  thousands  of  distressed 
mortals  who  were  then  out  of  work. 

Under  the  old  system,  the  government  went  out 
and  borrowed  money  as  a  private  individual 
would  do  to  pay  for  these  improvements,  agree- 
ing to  pay  a  certain  rate  of  interest.  A  million 
dollars  might  be  required  on  which  they  would 
agree  to  pay  5  per  cent  interest  for  a  period  of 
fifteen  years. 

It  will  be  seen  that,  after  the  expiration  of 
fifteen  years,  the  sum  of  one  million  dollars  in 
principal  must  be  returned  and  another  million 
in  interest  paid,  making  two  millions  in  all — in 
other  words,  doubling  the   original  cost  of  the 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  143 

project.  A  million  dollars  was  paid  out  for  ma- 
terials that  entered  into  construction  and  labor 
for  bringing  the  road  into  being.  Another  mil- 
lion went  to  a  group  that  did  not  give  an  ounce 
of  material  or  an  hour's  labor  toward  making 
the  road  a  reality.  This  latter  group  ''toiled  not, 
neither  did  they  spin"  but,  as  a  result  of  this 
transaction,  arrayed  themselves  "like  Solomon 
in  all  his  glory" — while  those  who  toiled  and  spun 
(when  they  were  fortunate  enough  to  be  allowed 
to  do  so)  had  to  content  themselves  with  bare 
necessities,  with  no  certainty  that  even  these 
would  be  continuous. 

Under  the  new  order  of  things,  a  different  pro- 
cedure is  followed: 

The  government,  representing  the  people,  de- 
cides that  a  new  road  is  necessary.  They  know 
the  people  are  willing  to  pay  for  it.  The  govern- 
ment proceeds  with  the  enterprise,  paying  only 
for  the  labor  and  material  entering  into  the  road. 
To  each  laborer,  at  the  expiration  of  each  week's 
service,  the  government  presents  in  payment  a 
Labor  Certificate  representing  his  wages.  This 
Certificate  bears  witness  that  the  holder  has  per- 
formed a  service  for  the  nation,  thereby  adding  a 
certain  tangible  amount  of  wealth  to  the  com- 
munity, in  a  form  that  the  community  may  use 
and  enjoy.  In  other  words,  this  certificate  is  an 
order  issued  by  Society  as  a  whole  to  an  in- 
dividual, authorizing  that  individual  to  draw  from 
the  common  wealth  of  Society  an  amount  to  be 
measured  by  its  face  value. 

The  community  is  prepared  to  redeem  this  La- 
bor Certificate  in  like  services,  as  represented  by 
products. 


144  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

The  laborer  with  a  ten  dollar  Certificate  in  his 
pocket  merely  holds  a  receipt  for  the  ten  dollars 
worth  of  service  he  gave  to  Society.  Payment 
by  Society  is  deferred  until  he  presents  his  Cer- 
tificate to  Society  for  payment — not  in  other  cer- 
tificates but  in  products. 

Each  Labor  Certificate  sets  forth  that  it  has 
been  issued  for  labor  performed  for  the  State, 
that  it  is  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public  and 
private,  that  it  must  be  honored  in  the  course  of 
any  transaction,  that  it  will  be  accepted  for  all 
kinds  of  government  taxes  and,  on  demand  at  any 
government  elevator,  may  be  redeemed  in  wheat — 
or,  provided  the  holder  under  oath  signifies  that 
he  requires  gold  for  foreign  travel,  redeemed  in 
gold;  and  later  on,  redeemed  in  all  necessary 
commodities  at  government  stores. 

In  addition,  the  certificate  serves  notice  that  on 
and  after  a  certain  date  these  Labor  Certificates 
will  be  the  only  money  that  will  be  accepted  by 
the  government  in  payment  for  taxes  and  that 
thereafter  all  taxes  must  be  paid  directly  in  cur- 
rency and  not  by  checks  or  gold  or  any  other 
medium  of  exchange. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  new  order  left  the  old 
currency,  based  on  gold,  in  circulation  largely  to 
cater  to  the  whims  of  those  who  wanted  some- 
thing redeemable  in  gold.  But  it  was  soon  realized 
that  the  most  desirable  of  all  currency  was  these 
Labor  Certificates — one  reason  (among  others 
that  I  will  mention  later)  lay  in  the  fact  that  they 
could  be  used  for  the  payment  of  taxes  and  that 
no  more  of  these  labor  notes  would  be  in  circula- 
tion at  any  time  than  were  actually  required  to 
meet  the  gross  yearly  amount  of  national  taxes. 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  145 

It  will  be  seen  that  such  currency  is  intrinsically 
more  valuable  than  the  currency  formerly  used, 
for  the  reason  that  it  takes  the  place  of  both  bonds 
and  money. 

In  your  time,  if  a  million  dollar  road  had  to 
be  constructed,  a  million  dollars  in  bonds  was 
issued  and  these  bonds  then  converted  into  cur- 
rency. The  public  was  thus  obligated  for  both 
the  bonds  and  the  currency.  Now  their  obligation 
is  only  for  the  currency,  but  this  obligation  is 
not  a  serious  thing,  for  the  reason  that  the  public 
has  already  received  full  value  to  cover  its 
obligation. 

Neither  can  there  be  any  inflation  of  currency. 
The  new  currency  is  not  a  fiat  of  the  government. 
The  government  recognizes  that  it  cannot  create 
value  but  it  can  pledge  value.  Currency  is  issued, 
therefore,  only  on  the  basis  of  value  for  value — in 
other  words,  an  order  is  issued  in  the  name  of  the 
people  to  have  something  of  value  performed,  for 
which  they  pledge  themselves  to  pay  by  giving  an 
equal  value  in  labor.  This  currency,  it  will  be 
seen,  was  issued  for  value  received  in  behalf  of 
the  nation  and  in  an  amount  not  to  exceed  the  total 
amount  receivable  in  taxes  levied  by  the  govern- 
ment covering  such  expenditure. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  no  matter  how 
much  money  is  issued  in  behalf  of  the  State,  for 
public  improvements  and  public  good,  an  equal 
amount  must  come  back  in  taxes  sufficient  to  cover 
the  original  expenditure.  The  government  gives 
nothing  to  the  people  without  being  compensated 
therefor  and  spends  nothing  in  the  public  behalf 
unless,  in  due  time,  it  arranges  to  get  every  penny 
back  in  taxes.  And  for  taxes  they  take  back  the 
10 


146  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

very  Certificates  that  were  previously  issued  as 
receipts  for  the  labor  involved. 

The  new  form  of  currency  adopted  is  valid  for 
four  reasons: 

(1)  It  brings  into  being  its  face  value  in  neces- 
sary things  created  for  the  enjoyment  of  all. 

(2)  It  is  redeemable  in  tax  paying  power. 

(3)  It  is  the  only  currency  and  the  only  form 
of  money  that  will  pay  taxes. 

(4)  It  is  redeemable  in  wheat,  the  staff  of  life, 
whenever  such  redemption  is  demanded  (but  like 
gold,  this  proved  a  very  rare  occurrence)  and 
later  on  in  all  the  necessities  of  life — at  govern- 
ment storehouses. 

I  have  already  stated  that  the  Committee, 
through  the  government,  announced  that  it  pro- 
posed to  spend  a  billion  dollars  for  roads  cover- 
ing all  parts  of  the  country.  Of  course,  there 
would  come  a  time  when  these  roads  would  be 
worn  out  and  have  to  be  replaced.  Then,  pre- 
sumably, another  billion  dollars  would  be  required 
for  their  replacement.  It  will  interest  you  to 
know  how  the  government,  after  spending  the  first 
billion  for  roads,  provided  a  new  billion  to  grad- 
ually replace  these  roads  without  issuing  new 
currency. 

First,  through  a  body  of  experts  the  govern- 
ment determined  the  life  of  a  mile  of  asphalt 
road — in  other  words,  how  many  miles  of  auto- 
mobile and  truck  travel  it  would  take  to  wear  the 
roads  to  a  point  where  they  had  to  be  replaced. 
Then,  they  arrived  at  how  much  each  vehicle 
owner  should  pay  for  each  hundred  miles  of 
travel.  Each  machine  owner  was  compelled  to 
place  on  the  wheels  of  his  car  a  "milemeter" 


THE    WORLD   IN   1931  147 

locked  so  that  it  would  not  be  tampered  with. 
Once  every  six  months  owners  are  required  to 
drive  up  to  a  government  station  and  have  the 
meter  reading  taken.  They  pay  a  tax  according 
to  the  mileage  shown — if  ten  thousand  miles,  the 
tax  is  ten  times  as  much  as  in  the  case  of  the 
owner  who  has  driven  only  a  thousand  miles.  The 
road  tax  is  collected  in  the  same  currency  that  was 
issued  originally  to  build  these  roads  and,  in  due 
time  as  the  roads  were  being  used  and  worn  out, 
every  dollar  of  the  original  currency  that  was 
issued  comes  back  to  the  public  treasury  and  is 
then  ready  to  be  respent  for  new  roads  or  for 
repairs,  without  the  necessity  of  issuing  new  cur- 
rency. 

It  will  be  seen  by  this  illustration  that  there  is 
no  danger  of  currency  inflation — for  the  reason 
that  such  currency  is  spent  only  for  things  neces- 
sary for  the  public  weal  and  is  afterwards  re- 
deemable in  taxes. 

The  same  applies  to  the  currency  issued  to  pay 
for  labor  and  materials  in  the  construction  of  a 
billion  dollars  worth  of  houses,  these  houses  being 
paid  for  on  the  installment  plan.  The  govern- 
ment, first  of  all,  spent  the  money  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  houses,  the  labor  and  materials. 
Immediately  thereafter  payment  installments  be- 
gan pouring  into  the  public  treasury  in  the  very 
certificates  that  had  been  previously  issued.  In 
due  course  of  time  payments  were  received  in 
full.  This  currency  was  then  available  to  build 
new  houses,  if  necessary,  or  it  could  be  can- 
celled and  destroyed. 

In  this  transaction  the  only  thing  that  is  lost 
is  labor — but  in  return  completed  dwellings  are 


148  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

found.  The  purchasers  of  houses  did  some  form 
of  work  for  Society  in  their  immediate  vicinity 
and  extracted  from  Society  dollars  for  their  work. 
With  these  dollars,  they  paid  the  government  for 
the  houses  purchased.  Thus  no  old-time  bond  is- 
sues, with  their  attendant  interest,  are  necessary. 
Bond  issues  are  now  obsolete. 

No  doubt  you  are  anxious  to  hear  how  the  co- 
operative profit-sharing  plan  works  out  in  busi- 
ness and  industry,  but  before  going  into  that 
phase  I  will  tell  you  some  things  regarding 
the  Committee  of  Fifty  and  its  work,  things 
which  slowly  prepared  the  way  for  our  present 
system. 

The  work  of  the  Committee,  in  one  sense,  was 
comparatively  easy  for  it  was  given  a  free  hand 
by  the  National  Convention,  backed  by  the  full 
authority  of  Congress,  the  President  and  Justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  Besides,  public  sentiment 
was  prepared  for  a  change.  The  people  knew 
that  the  old  order,  the  capitalistic  order,  had 
broken  down  and  must  be  replaced. 

When  you  left  America  in  1921  there  were 
nearly  seven  millions  of  idle  workers  in  this 
country,  but  when  the  Committee  of  Fifty  began 
its  work,  there  were  nearly  ten  millions.  The  suf- 
fering throughout  the  land  beggared  description. 
All  classes  were  asking  the  question — "Why  is  it 
that  a  country  capable  of  supplying  three  hundred 
millions  of  people  with  all  the  comforts  of  life 
(provided  they  work)  cannot  now  support  one 
hundred  million  who  are  willing  and  ready  to 
work?"  Nearly  every  man  and  woman  began  to 
see  and  understand  that  they  were  the  victims  of 


THE   WORLD    IN   1931  149 

a  system  that  was  holding  them  in  perpetual 
slavery  and,  therefore,  had  definitely  turned  away 
from  the  old  order.  There  were  few  so  ignorant 
or  so  stupid  as  not  to  understand  that  such  a  sys- 
tem could  not  be  continued — that  it  was  doomed. 

In  an  incredibly  short  time  after  the  Committee 
got  its  machinery  in  operation,  nearly  every  idle 
man  was  at  work.  Owing  to  the  stimulus  of  a 
share  in  the  profits  of  industry  factories  every- 
where reported  increased  production  but,  owing 
to  the  increased  purchasing  power  of  the  ten  mil- 
lions back  at  work  and  the  increased  purchasing 
power  of  the  workers,  who  now  shared  liberally 
in  the  profits,  extra  production  was  necessary  to 
supply  the  demands. 

However,  as  time  went  on,  the  Committee  faced 
a  new  problem,  the  problem  of  overproduction, 
and  this,  too,  was  soon  solved — but  not  in  the  way 
the  capitalist  leaders  would  have  solved  it.  You 
will  remember  that  in  case  of  overproduction 
under  the  old  order,  the  factory  owner  walked  out 
into  the  shop  and  coldly  told  his  men  that  their 
services  were  no  longer  required — that  there  was 
now  sufficient  stock  ahead  and,  until  this  surplus 
stock  was  used  up,  the  factory  would  be  idle;  or  if 
not  completely  idle,  a  certain  number  of  men 
would  be  laid  off.  Of  course,  the  unfortunates 
who  were  out  of  work  were  likewise  out  of  bread. 

When  the  Committee  started  its  activities,  the 
eight  hour  day  prevailed  throughout  America,  but 
this,  it  was  soon  found,  produced  an  unhealthy 
supply  of  surplus  goods  in  many  lines.  In  order 
to  correct  matters,  the  Committee  ordered  that 
instead  of  the  barbarous  discharge  of  men,  a  seven 
hour  day  be  established.     Our  present  working 


150  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

day  is  six  hours,  with  a  probability  that  it  wall 
soon  be  reduced  to  five.  At  the  present  time,  six 
hours  gives  employment  to  the  entire  nation  and 
produces  sufficient  for  the  wants  of  every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  the  country. 

Nothing  was  done  by  haphazard,  nor  did  the 
government  allow  industries  to  work  in  the  dark. 
To  this  end  an  Employment  Department  was  es- 
tablished, situated  at  Indianapolis  near  the  center 
of  population  of  America,  and  this  department  re- 
ceived regular  reports  from  every  operating  con- 
cern, setting  forth  its  daily  production  and  its 
approximate  surplus.  If  it  was  found  that  one 
industry  was  creating  far  beyond  the  legitimate 
needs  of  the  people  and  another  industry  running 
behind,  one  of  two  methods  was  adopted  to  equal- 
ize matters — either  the  one  that  was  running 
ahead  was  requested  to  reduce  its  hours  of  em- 
ployment and  the  one  behind  to  increase  its  hours 
of  employment,  or  volunteers  were  asked  to  tem- 
porarily leave  the  industry  that  was  creating  the 
surplus  and  go  over  to  the  industry  whose  pro- 
duction was  lagging.  As  in  a  war  emergency,  it 
was  the  single  men  who  were  expected  to  volunteer 
and  usually  they  did  volunteer.  In  this  way,  in- 
dustry marched  forward  with  an  even  front. 

It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  tell  you  that, 
although  given  absolute  powers,  the  Committee 
did  not  always  find  smooth  sailing.  The  greatest 
difficulties  they  had  to  contend  with  were  ignor- 
ance and  selfishness.  These  were  gradually  over- 
come but  they  died  hard. 

These  difficulties  were  mainly  overcome  by  edu- 
cation.    The  Committee  had  learned  something 


THE   WORLD    IN    1931  151 

from  the  war  or,  at  least,  from  war  propaganda. 
They  had  learned  how,  through  lies,  a  peace  lov- 
ing people  could  be  turned  into  howling,  blood- 
thirsty fanatics.  They  reasoned  that  this  being 
so,  it  was  possible,  by  right  approach  and  proper 
teaching,  to  produce  the  very  opposite  effect — 
by  instilling  into  each  one  a  regard  for  the  rights 
and  feelings  of  others,  by  explaining  the  enormity 
of  the  crime  of  greed,  how  happiness  consists  more 
in  giving  than  in  taking,  and  making  it  clear  that 
the  ever  present  motto  should  be  "one  for  all  and 
all  for  one." 

The  Committee  started  this  work  in  the  schools. 
They  cut  out  many  useless  subjects  and  sub- 
stituted others  dealing  with  one's  duty  to  Society. 
They  discouraged  rivalry  and  stopped  forever 
the  rewarding  of  unusual  talent.  They  recognized 
that  a  certain  child  may  have  ten  talents  while 
another  has  but  one.  The  child  with  ten  talents, 
under  the  present  system,  is  not  given  a  gold 
medal  and  the  other  the  booby  prize. 

All  are  made  to  understand  that  extra  talents 
are  gifts  of  Nature,  gifts  from  God,  and  the  child 
with  ten  talents  is  not  so  favored  because  his 
Maker  thinks  more  of  him  that  He  does  the  child 
with  but  one  talent.  Our  children  are  now  taught 
that  these  extra  talents  are  given  in  trust,  not 
for  the  purpose  of  making  it  possible  for  their 
possessors  to  get  ten  times  as  much  food,  ten  times 
as  many  clothes  or  ten  times  as  many  houses  and 
money  as  those  with  but  one  talent,  but  that  they 
may  use  them  for  the  benefit  of  all  who  were  ap- 
parently less  favored  by  their  Maker.  Under  this 
teaching,  the  children  of  today  are  putting  their 
parents  to  shame. 


152  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

Nor  did  the  work  stop  with  the  schools.  The 
influence  of  this  teaching  soon  entered  and  per- 
meated industry. 

Four  Minute  Men  were  sent  from  theater  to 
theater  and  from  rostrum  to  rostrum — preaching 
the  doctrine  of  co-operation  and  unselfishness. 

They  made  even  the  most  stupid  and  ignorant 
understand  that  if  ever  the  new  order  were 
wrecked  it  would  be  on  the  rock  of  individual 
greed  and  selfishness.  They  showed  that  the  old 
system  was  a  pure  and  simple  oligarchy,  organ- 
ized in  such  a  way  that  industry  remained  in  the 
hands  of  the  few  and  not  the  many — that  the  few 
arbitrarily  named  the  hours  of  labor  and  wages  to 
be  paid,  the  articles  to  be  made,  the  styles  to  pre- 
vail, the  price,  kind  and  quality  of  everything  we 
eat,  wear  and  use — in  fact,  the  few  had  everything 
to  say  and  the  many  no  voice  whatever. 

Formerly,  the  great  mass  of  workers  had  no 
more  to  say  in  regard  to  these  things  than  the 
horses  or  machinery  employed  in  the  same  in- 
dustry. But  now  all  that  is  changed.  Business 
has  been  democratized.  Under  the  new  order,  the 
control  of  industry  may  be  said  to  be  in  the  hands 
of  the  few,  like  a  passenger  train  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  train  crew.  But  industry  today  is  not  run 
in  the  interests  of  the  few  but  (like  the  train  crew, 
acting  for  the  benefit  of  the  passengers)  the  few 
who  now  control  industry  act  in  the  interests  of 
the  many  and  thus  receive  the  loyal  co-operation 
of  the  many. 

Our  educational  workers  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  old  world  was  suffering  from 
"talents"  or  rather  the  perversion  of  talents. 
Heretofore,  man  had  capitalized  his  talents  for 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  153 

his  own  benefit  and,  as  a  result,  succeeded  in  en- 
slaving mankind.  Often,  one  man  with  ten  talents 
could  encompass  a  thousand,  each  having  but  one 
talent — if  there  were  no  restraining  hands.  But 
today  the  reward  for  talent,  ambition  and  an 
unusual  industry  is  kept  within  due  bounds. 

It  Avas  found  that  some  very  industrious  indi- 
viduals were  willing  to  work  nine  hours,  where 
only  six  was  required,  endeavoring  to  make  pay 
and  a  half.  Under  the  old  system,  such  an  in- 
dividual was  looked  upon  as  an  exemplary  citizen 
and  a  pattern  to  follow.  But  not  so  now.  Society 
asks  each  and  all  to  work  six  hours.  To  work 
less  is  not  to  do  your  share.  To  work  more  is  to 
take  the  share  that  properly  belongs  to  another. 
The  worker  who  puts  in  three  extra  hours  for 
nothing  is  regarded  as  a  disturbing  and  useless 

"benefactor." 

******* 

You  will  be  interested  to  know  how  the  profits 
of  industry  are  apportioned  under  our  new 
system. 

Even  yet  there  are  many  things  to  be  desired 
before  we  can  have  an  equitable  system  of  profit- 
sharing.  Selfishness  has  not  yet  been  eliminated, 
particularly  among  the  older  workers.  The 
starved  and  kicked  dog,  even  when  surrounded 
by  kindness  and  plenty,  often  exhibits  his  old 
self — but  the  younger  generation  is  entering  the 
ranks  with  new  ideals,  with  no  dread  of  poverty, 
with  more  consideration  and  more  humaneness. 
They  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  worship  the 
almighty  dollar  for  now  the  dollar  does  not  give 
one  man  very  much  advantage  over  another. 

Under  present  conditions,  every  man  who  works 


154  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

six  hours  a  day  is  assured  all  the  food  he  can  eat, 
a  good  home  to  shelter  him,  plenty  of  time  for 
recreation,  amusements  at  almost  no  cost  and  a 
two  weeks'  vacation  yearly.  In  addition,  if  he  is 
sick  he  gets  an  allowance  and  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
eight  a  moderate  pension.  True,  he  can  never 
hope  to  live  in  a  mansion,  but  he  need  never  live 
in  a  hovel.  Both  the  hovel  and  the  mansion  will 
soon  be  things  of  the  past. 

But,  you  ask,  upon  what  basis  of  calculation 
were  these  things  arrived  at  ?  I  shall  endeavor  to 
make  that  plain.  The  calculation  was  very  simple 
but  absolutely  scientific  and  correct. 

It  was  estimated  that  if  every  able-bodied  man 
between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  fifty-eight 
should  work  seven  hours  a  day  and  the  product 
of  their  labor  be  divided  equitably  between  them 
(taking  the  family  as  a  unit  and  all  the  people  as 
one  great  family)  inside  of  six  months  every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  the  country  would  be  well 
fed,  well  clothed,  would  have  plenty  of  time  for 
study,  recreation  and  amusements  and,  in  addi- 
tion, could  liberally  contribute  to  a  common  fund 
to  keep  in  comfort,  without  work,  all  over  fifty- 
eight  years  of  age.  And  also,  inside  of  three  years 
£very  family  would  have  a  decent  home,  well  and 
comfortably  furnished,  and  that  thereafter,  but 
six  hours  a  day  of  their  labor  would  be  necessary, 
instead  of  seven. 

This  fact  having  been  arrived  at,  it  was  only 
necessary  to  compel  a  proper  distribution  of  the 
wealth  that  labor  produced  and  put  in  operation 
a  means  to  curb  the  activities  of  those  with  extra 
talents  who  selfishly  accumulated  more  than  their 
just  share. 


THE    WORLD    IN   1931  155 

It  was  found  that  if  every  man  worked  and  got 
his  share,  and  if  all  should  share  with  some  re- 
gard to  equality,  each  head  of  a  family  would 
receive  three  thousand  dollars  a  year — three 
thousand  dollars  worth  of  the  products  of 
lahor. 

It  was  found  that  a  large  family  could  live 
well,  and  more  than  well,  on  this  amount  and 
any  excess  would  be  both  superfluous  and  ex- 
travagant. 

Therefore,  to  keep  the  talented  few  from  de- 
manding a  larger  share  of  the  profits  of  industry 
than  was  necessary  for  their  own  comfortable 
existence,  thereby  keeping  the  individual  with  but 
one  talent  from  deriving  his  just  share,  the  gov- 
ernment inaugurated  an  income  tax  which  pro- 
vided no  levy  on  incomes  up  to  three  thousand, 
five  hundred  dollars.  On  larger  incomes,  50  per 
cent  was  levied  on  the  first  additional  five  hun- 
dred; then  99  per  cent  on  all  in  excess  of  four 
thousand  dollars,  due  allowance  being  made  for 
extra  large  families  and  dependents. 

The  righteousness  of  this  procedure  will  be  ap- 
parent if  you  hold  the  conviction  that  both  the 
hovel  and  the  mansion  must  go,  and  its  wisdom 
is  best  appreciated  when  applied  to  the  problem 
of  profit-sharing. 

Had  unlimited  and  unnecessary  incomes  been 
allowed  in  the  new  order,  talent  would  have  de- 
manded and  received  a  larger  share  of  the  profits 
as  a  reward  for  responsibility  and  management. 
But,  with  practically  all  of  every  income  above 
four  thousand  dollars  going  to  the  government, 
such  demands  were  greatly  modified — for  talented 
men  preferred  to  see  their  fellow  workers  get  a 


156  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

larger  share  of  the  profit  than  see  it  go  to  the 
government. 

While  very  few  asked  for  an  excessive  share 
in  the  distribution  of  profits,  certain  concessions, 
such  as  honors,  were  accorded  those  with  unusual 
talent,  and  as  time  goes  on  little  objection  to 
this  is  encountered.  There  were  none,  however, 
who  did  not  receive  from  Society  a  decent  living 
wage. 

Technical  business  schools  were  established 
everywhere  to  fit  men  to  serve  as  foremen  and 
managers,  but  these  students,  while  learning,  are 
supported  at  the  expense  of  the  government,  with 
the  understanding  that  the  knowledge  they  ac- 
quire is  to  be  used,  not  for  their  own  personal  ag- 
grandizement, but  for  the  benefit  of  the  com- 
munity as  a  whole. 

Thus,  industry  is  enriched  constantly  and  when 
an  industry  or  concern  falls  behind,  if  investiga- 
tion shows  poor  management,  new  blood  is  im- 
mediately infused. 

After  adopting  an  equitable  profit-sharing 
scheme,  it  was  the  policy  of  the  government  to 
leave  industry  severely  alone — unless  circum- 
stances made  it  imperative  and  necessary  that  an 
outside  hand  assume  temporary  guidance. 

It  may  be  claimed  that  the  new  order  was  built 
on  confiscation  of  capital.  To  some  extent  that  is 
true,  for  otherwise  (without  confiscation)  the  old 
order  would  have  been  saddled  on  the  world  for 
all  time. 

There  were  many  valid  reasons  for  proceeding 
as  outlined,  but  the  most  important  lay  in  the 
fact  that  capital,  as  constituted   under  the   old 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  157 

order,  was  theft.  Capital  held  ownership  of  all 
the  real  wealth  of  the  country — the  wealth  that 
was  produced  by  somebody  else.  Capital  did  not 
create  an  acre  of  land,  did  not  improve  that  land, 
did  not  create  a  road,  a  sidewalk,  a  house  or  a 
public  building  or  an  ounce  of  food  or  clothing, 
yet  it  owned  and  controlled  practically  them  all. 

These  all  were  created  by  the  sweat  and  toil  of 
labor  as  the  bee  makes  honey — but  like  the  bee,  the 
honey  (less  sufficient  to  exist  on)  went  to  the 
owner  of  the  hive. 

One  of  the  amazing  things  that  wTill  confront 
future  generations  of  men  is  how  such  a  state  of 
affairs  ever  existed  or  was  allowed  to  exist  as  long 
as  it  did. 

The  community  existed  off  the  results  of  labor 
(and  entirely  off  this)  and  had  a  system  been  es- 
tablished whereby  each  laborer  who  contributed  to 
the  common  weal  could  get  out  of  the  common  fund, 
in  the  labor  of  others,  an  amount  equal  to  what 
he  put  in  all  would  have  been  well;  but  instead, 
a  crafty  class  stepped  in  and  slowly  perfected  a 
machine  that  divided  and  subdivided  labor  so  that 
it  could  not  function  along  simple  co-operative 
lines — by  degrees  making  society  so  complex  that 
the  man  who  had  a  bushel  of  potatoes  to  sell  and 
desired  a  bushel  of  wheat  and  the  man  who  had  a 
bushel  of  wheat  to  sell  and  desired  a  bushel  of 
potatoes  could  not  come  together  without  paying 
tribute  to  the  class  that  stood  between.  This  class 
became  more  important  than  even  the  producers 
of  wealth.  As  an  illustration,  let  me  remind  you 
again  that  in  1921,  the  year  you  left  America, 
United  States  government  experts  reported  that 
out  of  every  hundred  dollars   expended  by  the 


158  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

American  consumer,  production  got  only  thirty- 
seven  dollars — the  other  sixty-three  dollars  going 
to  the  "machine"  for  profits  and  service. 

But  how  did  all  this  come  about?  How  did 
capital  fasten  itself  so  securely  on  production? 

The  capitalistic  system  was  a  lineal  descendant 
of  the  baronial  land  ownership  system  of  two  cen- 
turies ago.  Through  the  ownership  of  vast  areas 
of  land,  in  Great  Britain  particularly,  the  com- 
mon people  were  kept  in  serfdom,  all  paying 
tribute  to  their  "masters."  As  the  powers  of 
government  increased,  the  powers  of  these  barons 
were  taken  away.  But  just  as  the  people  were 
emerging  from  serfdom  and  given  the  right  to 
own  land,  a  new  menace  appeared.  It  began  by 
enslaving  those  residing  in  the  towns  and  cities 
and  through  them  the  land  laborer  and  the  small 
land  owner.  This  menace  was  machinery.  It 
first  made  itself  felt  in  the  opening  decade  of  the 
last  century. 

The  wealthy  land  owners,  who  were  the  real 
capitalists  of  those  days,  saw  great  future  for 
recently  invented  machines  or  labor  saving  de- 
vices. The  movement  started  in  England  as  early 
as  1810.  There  was  great  economy  in  these  ma- 
chines and  those  who  owned  them  could  not  only 
control  trade,  but  could  also  conserve  and  control 
labor.  In  fact,  from  the  very  nature  of  things, 
they  could  be  almost  independent  of  labor. 

Although  these  machines  could  be  a  blessing,  if 
used  for  the  common  good,  the  economy  which 
they  now  effected  was  reaped  by  the  very  few — by 
the  men  who  owned  and  controlled  them.  They, 
therefore,  became  rich,  powerful  and  overbearing 
and  developed  into  our  modern  capitalists. 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  159 

One  of  these  machines  could  do  the  work  of  five 
to  twenty  men,  the  result  being  that  thousands 
were  thrown  out  of  work  and  the  balance  became 
supplicants  for  the  privilege  of  operating  them — 
on  the  same  terms  that  animals  were  employed, 
just  sufficient  to  keep  body  and  soul  together. 

Heretofore,  the  world  had  been  dependent  on 
the  hand  labor  of  men  for  their  supplies  and, 
therefore,  men  were  of  value.  But  with  the  in- 
troduction of  machinery,  men  were  relegated  to 
the  discard  and  he  who  owned  a  machine  or  group 
of  machines  was  the  all  powerful  being,  the  dic- 
tator. 

Had  these  machines,  the  inventions  of  labor 
and  created  and  assembled  by  the  hands  of  labor, 
been  used  for  the  benefit  of  all  instead  of  a  group, 
the  world  never  would  have  had  the  millionaire 
and  the  modem  castle  and  the  evils  that  the  power 
of  these  millions  produced. 

Those  who  controlled  the  machine  controlled 
industry  and  those  who  controlled  industry  con- 
trolled mankind. 

The  new  order  has  succeeded  in  restoring  to 
the  people  that  which  was  intended  for  them 
and  that  which  always  should  have  belonged  to 
them. 

If  restoring  original  rights  is  confiscation,  let 
those  who  call  it  such  make  the  most  of  it. 

When  America  spent  her  blood  and  treasure  to 
free  the  slaves  and  smash  the  institutions  of 
slavery,  she  did  not  compensate  the  slave  owners. 
Neither  did  our  present  government  fully  com- 
pensate those  representatives  of  capital  who  had 
reduced  mankind  to  perpetual  slavery. 


160  THE   WORLD    IN   1931 

But  although  the  new  order  restored  to  the  peo- 
ple their  inherent  rights  and  placed  them  in  a 
position  whereby  they  could  help  themselves  with- 
out paying  tribute  to  a  non-producing  class,  yet 
our  government  made  the  change  without  taking 
from  those  they  dispossessed  anything  that  con- 
tributed to  their  real  well-being  or  happiness. 

The  varied  experiences  of  mankind  shows  that 
happiness  does  not  spring  from  the  possession  of 
a  superabundance  of  things,  but  rather  from  the 
use  of  things  in  moderation  and  that  no  happiness 
is  complete  that  is  not  shared. 

The  cheapest  thing  in  all  the  world  is  happi- 
ness, but  there  is  nothing  for  which  so  high  a  price 
is  paid  and  even  then,  usually,  the  counterfeit  is 
purchased  instead  of  the  genuine. 

True  happiness  cannot  come  from  riches 
alone — nor  anything  in  which  all  do  not  share. 
The  lark  sings  in  the  meadow  to  the  delight  of 
passers-by.  Captured  and  caged  for  individual 
use,  it  frets  and  dies. 

The  lark  was  for  all ;  the  machines  were  for  all 
and  the  wealth  which  these  machines  created  was 
for  all. 

The  captured  lark  becomes  songless  and 
dies;  the  machine  for  lack  of  use  rusts  out,  in- 
stead of  wearing  out,  and  unused  wealth  takes 
wings. 

The  government  providentially  stepped  in  and 
saved  these  people  from  themselves — took  away 
responsibility  by  taking  away  superfluous  riches — 
removed  the  burdens  from  the  backs  of  their  un- 
happy possessors.  They  left  instead  sufficient  for 
every  want,  without  the  power  to  deprive  others 
of  the  right  to  a  fair  share  in  what  is  produced. 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  161 

In  passing  through  this  world,  no  one  should 
expect  or  even  desire  more  than  that  his  wants 
shall  be  supplied;  that  he  receive  sufficient  food, 
clothing  and  shelter,  and  that  the  legitimate 
aspirations  of  his  mental  and  spiritual  nature 
shall  be  supplied.  It  is  greed  to  want  more;  if 
industrious,  it  is  to  be  robbed  to  have  less. 

Even  before  the  year  1921,  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  paved  the  way  for  this  so- 
called  confiscation. 

They  approved  the  right  of  the  government  to 
take  excessive  profits  and  earnings.  The  only  dif- 
ference between  the  action  of  our  government 
today  and  the  previous  order  was  one  of  degree. 

They  decided  that  the  government  could  con- 
fiscate by  means  of  an  income  tax,  over  and  above 
a  certain  amount.  We,  at  the  present  time,  are 
only  less  liberal  in  the  amount  of  income  we  allow. 

Then  again,  in  1921,  this  Court  stated  that  the 
government  had  a  right  to  regulate  rents,  voicing 
the  opinion  that  the  interest  of  the  few  should 
give  way  to  the  good  of  the  many. 

In  the  present  re-adjustment,  the  government 
made  the  operation  as  painless  as  possible.  It 
gave  each  industry  owner,  so  long  as  he  lived,  the 
choice  of  receiving  one-third  of  the  net  profits 
from  that  industry  or  taking  a  pension  not  to 
exceed  four  thousand  dollars  yearly,  an  amount 
more  than  sufficient  to  keep  his  family  in  com- 
fort— the  pension,  of  course,  to  die  with  him. 

If  the  industry  were  small,  the  pension  offered 

was  not  so  large  as  in  the  case  of  the  owner  of  a 

large  industry  and  the  owner,  therefore,  would 

be  obliged  to  remain  with  his  business  to  insure 

ii 


162  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

himself  a  good  living  and  become  eligible  for  the 
regular  pension  that  all  workers  now  receive  after 
reaching  the  age  of  fifty-eight.  However,  the 
government  examined  each  case  separately  and 
did  full  justice  to  all. 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  no  case  could  the  owner 
of  an  industry,  even  on  a  profit-sharing  basis,  re- 
ceive more  than  four  thousand  a  year,  for  the  rea- 
son that  all  excess  income  went  to  the  government 
in  the  form  of  an  income  tax. 

The  expectation  was  that  the  entire  industry  of 
the  country,  over  a  period  of  years,  would  produce 
an  even  income  for  all  workers.  But  it  was  found 
that  in  some  years  individual  concerns  would  show 
large  profits  and  in  other  years  smaller  profits; 
consequently,  in  the  years  that  large  profits  were 
earned,  over  and  above  the  highest  income  allowed 
by  law,  the  profits  were  not  immediately  divided 
amongst  the  workers  for  the  reason  that  such 
profits  would  only  go  into  the  hands  of  the  gov- 
ernment. Instead,  they  carried  them  over  to  the 
next  year,  so  that,  if  the  next  year  should  show  a 
reduction  of  profits,  there  would  be  a  surplus  to 
draw  on  to  keep  up  the  average  income  for  the 
workers.  The  government  allowed  this  (for  the 
reasons  named)  but  once  in  three  years  all  excess 
surpluses  that  were  accumulated,  over  and  above 
that  which  guaranteed  workmen  and  managers  a 
legitimate  annual  income  and  appeared  to  be 
necessary  for  extensions  and  depreciation,  was 
taken  by  the  government  for  the  public  fund. 

Thus,  all  industries  are  put  on  the  same  level — 
all  considered  equally  useful,  but  none  more  profit- 
able than  others. 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  163 

Right  here,  let  me  tell  you  of  some  of  the 
criticisms  which  were  aimed  at  the  new  order. 

It  was  claimed  by  some  that  the  leveling  of  op- 
portunities would  check  human  progress.  The 
progress  these  critics  had  in  mind  was  exemplified 
by  the  mansion,  the  private  railroad  car,  the 
limousine,  the  grand  hotel  with  its  million  dollar 
suites,  Fifth  Avenue,  exclusive  clubs  and  exten- 
sive private  golf  courses.  With  them,  progress 
did  not  represent  the  development  of  some  gift 
of  nature  or  genius  for  the  use  and  enjoyment  of 
all.  Neither  did  it  represent  symmetry,  fraternity 
nor  co-operation,  but  rather  the  unlimited  pur- 
chasing and  creative  power  of  the  almighty  dollar 
for  the  limited  few.  They  forget  that  the  true 
progress  of  mankind  is  like  the  safe  progress  of 
a  fleet  and  should  be  regulated  by  its  slowest  and 
weakest  vessels. 

Human  progress  has  relegated  to  the  rear  the 
spinning  wheel  of  our  grandmother  and  pro- 
claimed the  loom — but  in  spite  of  this,  if  millions 
of  men  are  yet  enslaved,  with  backs  still  ragged 
and  bare,  then  we  have  had  no  progress. 

There  is  no  progress  that  is  not  starward, 
where  all  are  within  shouting  distance  of  the 
leader.  There  is  no  progress  unless  shared,  like  the 
air  and  sunshine,  by  humanity  in  the  aggregate. 

True  progress  is  from  birth  to  death — we  cast 
off  the  old  to  take  on  the  new.  And  that  birth 
may  be  in  a  manger  and  that  death  on  a  scaffold. 

Really,  what  the  new  order  has  accomplished 
is  to  take  away  the  opportunity  of  the  few  to 
interfere  with  the  uniform  progress  of  the  many. 

The  curbing  of  "talent"  under  the  new  order 
consists  only  in  curbing  those  who  selfishly  use 


164  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

their  talents  to  gratify  their  own  inordinate  am- 
bitions. 

True,  it  has  killed  off  many  a  so-called  million- 
aire "patron"  of  art.  No  longer  will  the  pam- 
pered and  spoiled  artist  ride  around  in  the  livery 
and  trappings  of  the  rich  but,  while  this  is  so, 
thousands  of  his  kind  are  no  longer  compelled  to 
exist  in  Grub  Street. 

No  matter  what  may  be  said  to  the  contrary, 
an  artist  can  do  better  work  on  a  full  stomach 
than  on  an  empty  one.  It  is  difficult,  even  for  a 
genius,  to  feel  inspired,  let  alone  bring  that  in- 
spiration into  being  while  listening  for  the  knock 
of  the  landlord. 

Art  cannot  nourish  on  poverty;  likewise  it  wilts 
like  some  delicate  flower  if  the  soil  is  too  rich. 

But  where  we  formerly  had  one  lavish  mil- 
lionaire art  patron  we  now  have  hundreds  who 
may  patronize  in  moderation.  But  in  so  doing 
they  will  not  buy  a  name,  nor  will  they  prize  a 
masterpiece  for  its  cost,  but  rather  that  it  honors 
and  expresses  the  religion  of  nature. 

The  artist,  who  has  the  spirit  within  him,  does 
not  need  a  millionaire  patron  but  will,  like  the 
little  canary  in  my  study,  bring  forth  the  song  that 
is  in  his  heart,  even  on  seed  and  water. 

Necessity,  not  great  rewards,  is  the  mother  of 
invention  and  progress.  The  world's  necessity  is 
seen  by  the  true  inventor  and  he  can  no  more  stay 
his  God  given  talents  than  my  beautiful  little  bird 
can  withhold  his  song. 

Of  course  there  were  those  in  the  beginning, 
who  thought  that  anything  near  an  equality  in 
pay  in  industry  would  mitigate  against  produc- 
tion.   They  proved  mistaken.    It  will  be  admitted 


THE   WORLD   IN    1931  165 

that  most  any  American  who  felt  in  any  way 
competent  to  fill  the  high  office  of  the  Presidency 
of  the  United  States,  for  instance,  would  take  that 
position  and  give  the  best  that  was  in  him,  even 
on  a  salary  of  four  thousand  a  year,  in  preference 
to  the  Presidency  of  an  automobile  factory  or 
that  of  a  boss  carpenter  or  day  laborer  at  one 
hundred  thousand  a  year.  A  technical  worker 
in  intricate  machinery,  even  at  the  same  pay, 
would  still  refuse  to  change  positions  with  a  lathe 
hand  or  floor  sweeper. 

Nowhere  do  we  find  greater  devotion  to  duty 
than  in  an  army  in  time  of  war  where  all  work 
really  on  a  common  equality  insofar  as  money 
reward.  Under  these  conditions,  we  find  en- 
gineers, for  instance,  who  in  their  profession,  had 
commanded  as  high  as  fifty  thousand  a  year,  do 
equally  enlightened  work  on  a  salary  of  a  hun- 
dred dollars  a  month. 

Even  with  equal  pay,  men  will  gravitate  to  the 
work  that  gives  best  expression  to  their  being. 
The  born  leader  or  manager  will  be  a  leader  or 
manager — the  lathe  hand  will  be  a  lathe  hand; 
and  the  lathe  hand,  too,  is  important,  for  without 
him,  the  industrial  machine  would  not  function, 
no  more  than  it  would  function  without  a  man- 
ager. 

Of  course  in  the  new  order,  men  are  placed,  as 
formerly  in  positions  best  fitted  to  their  tastes 
and  acquirements — this  being  scientifically  set- 
tled by  a  committee  of  workers  and  managers — 
the  ones  who  are  usually  interested  in  seeing  that 
every  unit  is  given  the  power  to  fully  express 
itself. 


166  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

But  to  return  to  the  Committee  of  Fifty  and 
their  work: 

The  next  important  step  was  to  take  over  the 
banking  interests  of  the  country. 

It  was  long  recognized  that  many  of  the  evils 
of  modern  society  could  be  traced  directly  to  bank- 
ers and  banking. 

When  one  looks  back  and  views  that  institution 
known  as  modern  banking,  studies  its  intricate 
workings,  its  serpent-like  coilings  and  re-coilings, 
its  expansive  smile  in  fair  weather,  its  terrible 
frown  when  the  sun  ceases  to  shine,  its  merciless 
strangulations  and  decapitations,  its  sleight  of 
hand  performance,  its  pitiless  and  almost  super- 
human power — well  might  he  ask,  what  manner  of 
demon  is  this? 

Governments  trembled  at  its  frown.  Industry 
showered  tribute  for  its  favor.  Hat  in  hand, 
Church  and  State  alike  approached  it. 

From  whence  did  it  derive  these  titanic,  super- 
human and  inhuman  powers?  From  the  very 
thing  that  it  then  enslaved — the  government. 

Do  you  believe  in  miracles? — in  the  creation  of 
something  from  almost  nothing? — and  then  the 
building  on  to  that  "something"  of  the  most 
powerful  machine  in  the  world?  If  you  do  not, 
examine  the  banking  system — that  Goliath  that 
the  new  order  with  a  David  sling  felled  to  the 
earth. 

Behold  the  banking  miracle! 

The  first  great  American  miracle  worker  was 
Alexander  Hamilton,  arch  enemy  of  Democracy 
and  lover  of  centralized,  kingly  power.  He  it  was 
who  created  the  financial  system  which  was  re- 
sponsible for  the  bringing  in  of  that  brood  of  vul- 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  167 

tures  who  for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  fed  and 
fattened  on  both  production  and  distribution, 
leaving  in  their  wake  not  only  their  well  plucked 
victims  but  also  skeletons  beyond  count. 

The  founders  of  this  government,  in  their  wis- 
dom, created  a  republic  instead  of  a  democracy. 

A  republic  is  a  democracy  with  an  autocratic 
string  tied  to  it. 

We  have  lots  of  liberty,  so  long  as  we  play 
around  within  the  narrow  limits  which  the  con- 
stitution permits  but,  if  we  seek  to  get  beyond 
these  limits,  we  are  suddenly  jerked  up  by  a  rope 
held  in  hands  as  autocratic  as  any  king  or  poten- 
tate. 

We  boasted  of  our  liberty  under  the  old  order. 
But  the  peoples  of  many  a  European  monarchy  in 
some  respects  had  greater  liberty  than  we.  Our 
people  never  were  their  own  masters — they  were, 
in  many  respects,  bound  hand  and  foot. 

Was  the  will  of  the  people  supreme  1  Not  a  bit 
of  it.  Was  their  voice  the  supreme  mandate?  If 
you  were  so  deluded  in  thinking,  weigh  well  the 
following : 

In  a  democracy  the  voice  of  the  people,  whether 
directly  expressed  or  through  accredited  repre- 
sentatives, should  become  the  law  of  the  land. 
No  other  will  should  intervene — no  power  should 
say  them  nay. 

Under  the  old  order,  every  man  and  woman  in 
the  entire  country  could  decide  they  wanted  a 
given  law  and,  in  obedience  to  their  demand, 
Congress  could  pass  that  law  and  the  President 
sign  it — but  all  this  did  not  assure  them  the  law 
in  question  nor  was  it  any  valid  reason  why 
they  should  have  it.    They  were  told  boldly  and 


168  THE    WORLD   IN   1931 

plainly  by  the  Supreme  Court  that  the  unanimous 
wish  of  the  public  as  expressed  in  legislation 
did  not  constitute  a  reason  or  a  right  why 
they  should  have  what  they  wanted — all  that  was 
determined  by  a  body  of  men  who  met  in  Phila- 
delphia one  hundred  fifty  years  ago  and  what 
they  thought  or  had  to  say  regarding  it.  Can  you 
imagine  anything  more  absurd,  more  autocratic 
or  more  inane ! 

One  of  this  select  body  of  men  was  Alexander 
Hamilton,  the  arch  intellectual  who  assisted  not 
only  in  tying  the  hands  of  future  generations, 
with  respect  to  their  wishes  and  aspirations,  but 
who  forced  upon  them,  at  the  same  time,  a 
financial  institution  which  was  vested  with  the 
most  autocratic  and  enslaving  powers. 

And  by  what  process,  what  wave  of  the  ma- 
gician's wand,  has  this  evil  spirit  been  brought 
forth? — this  evil  spirit  that  can  turn  water  into 
wine,  a  small  heap  of  gold  into  a  mountain  of 
currency  and  make  of  that  currency  the  breath 
of  commercial,  industrial  and  domestic  life? 

They  took  a  few  grains  of  yellow  metal  and  they 
called  it  a  dollar.  They  took  that  dollar  and  put 
it  in  a  vault — as  they  would  something  that  was 
dead.  They  multiplied  it  by  issuing  dollar  bills. 
They  loaned  out  these  multiplied  bills  at  interest 
and  in  exchange  they  received  bonds  and  notes, 
government  and  otherwise.  They  took  these 
bonds  and  notes  and  used  them  as  security  for 
issuing  more  dollar  bills  (five  dollar  bills  and 
hundred  dollar  bills) — then  put  these  out  again  at 
interest  in  their  multiplied  form.  At  required 
intervals,  they  went  back  into  the  labor  market, 
bought  gold  dollars  at  their  face  value  with  paper 


THE   WORLD    IN   1931  169 

dollars  and  multiplied  them  again  into  paper 
dollars. 

All  this  was  performed  by  bands  of  private 
speculators  who,  in  marble  palaces  and  under 
names  bearing  high  sounding  national  titles,  op- 
erated banks  for  private  profit — and  in  the  hol- 
low of  their  hands  was  the  keeping  of  the  life 
and  death  of  industry. 

And  surrounding  these,  often  attached  to  them 
as  a  result  of  their  operations,  there  came  into 
being  a  brood  of  speculators,  brokers,  financiers, 
stock  jobbers  and  scalpers — camp  followers  of  the 
demon  who  lived  and  preyed  on  industry. 

Many  and  varied  were  the  forms  that  this 
money  tyranny  assumed. 

Under  the  old  system,  the  government  left  the 
country  at  the  mercy  of  the  bank.  It  could  ad- 
vance money  to  one  and  withhold  it  from  an- 
other. It  could  extend  credit  to  an  industry  or 
a  business  house  and,  in  the  face  of  unimpaired 
security,  could  arbitrarily  call  the  loan  and  throw 
that  concern  into  bankruptcy.  Through  manipu- 
lations of  boards  of  directors,  one  concern  could 
obtain  favors  and  use  their  private  influence  to 
ruin  a  competitor — by  seeking  to  withhold  from 
him  the  bank's  favor.  With  a  stroke  of  a  pen, 
the  banker  could  make  an  industry;  by  another 
stroke,  he  could  arbitrarily  lay  another  industry 
in  ruins. 

There  was  no  solution  of  the  money  question 
under  capitalism,  controlled  by  speculative 
groups,  who  played  the  game  for  their  own 
pockets,  for  position,  for  power  and  often  for  re- 
venge. 

The  government,  therefore,  was  compelled  to 


170  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

take  over  the  banks  and  run  them  in  the  interest 
of  the  whole  people  as,  for  example,  it  runs  the 
postoffice. 

It  was  necessary  to  inaugurate  a  campaign  of 
education  amongst  the  masses  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  the  evils  of  the  old  system  of  banking, 
the  functions  of  money  and  the  life  sapping  na- 
ture of  ''interest." 

As  regards  the  functions  of  money,  it  was 
made  plain  that  money  (which,  in  the  beginning, 
was  only  intended  as  a  medium  to  facilitate  the 
exchange  of  one  product  for  another  and  replace 
barter)  had  been  diverted  from  its  original  func- 
tion and  given  more  powers  than  the  article  that 
it  was  intended  to  measure  or  exchange.  In  other 
words,  money,  the  measure  of  value,  had  become 
more  important  than  money's  worth. 

Society  had  become  so  complex  that  nothing 
could  be  exchanged  without  money,  even  when  in- 
dividuals or  groups  had  articles  to  be  exchanged, 
and  this  condition  was  taken  advantage  of  by 
centralizing  money  and  making  of  it  a  commodity, 
instead  of  a  measure  as  was  originally  intended. 

That  which  was  to  facilitate  the  transfer  of  a 
product  of  one  individual's  labor  for  that  of  an- 
other's, or  the  labor  of  one  group  for  that  of 
another  group,  was  assembled  by  the  banks  into 
formidable  piles  as  merchandise  and  loaned  out 
to  those  who  sought  to  make  such  transfers — in 
other  words,  a  third  group  of  non-producers  made 
its  appearance  in  business  and  insisted  that,  be- 
fore two  producing  groups  could  exchange  their 
products,  tribute  in  the  form  of  interest  must  be 
paid  to  them. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  interest  is  the  reward 


THE    WORLD    IN   1931  171 

of  thrift.  That  was  false  on  the  face  of  it,  for  the 
reason  that  for  every  dollar  received  in  interest 
by  the  thrifty  producer,  ten  dollars  went  into  the 
pocket  of  the  parasitical  non-producer. 

And  even  the  thrifty  producer  was  not  in  every 
respect  a  good  member  of  society,  for  the  reason 
that  his  thrift  consisted  in  producing  more  than 
he  consumed,  exchanging  his  surplus  products 
for  money  and  refusing  to  let  others  labor  equally 
for  him  so  that  the  account  could  be  squared — 
insisting  on  taking  money  instead  of  labor  or 
products,  then  putting  this  money  out  at  interest 
and  in  the  course  of  ten  or  fifteen  years  coming 
back  to  society  and  demanding  double  the  amount 
he  originally  should  have  had  on  the  ground  ' '  that 
he  has  waited."  He  became  a  parasite  as  well 
as  a  producer,  which  of  course,  was  better  than 
being  all  parasite.  He  was  among  those  who 
lived  partly  on  production  and  partly  on  interest. 

Interest,  then,  was  not  a  reward  of  thrift  but 
rather  the  reward  for  deferred  payments.  But 
should  deferred  payments  be  so  handsomely  re- 
warded I 

If  a  person  is  in  possession  of  a  ten  dollar  bill, 
if  he  has  come  by  it  honestly  it  means  that  he  has 
created  something  for  society  and  has  delivered 
to  society  that  something.  The  ten  dollar  bill  is 
evidence  of  that  delivery  and  not  only  evidence 
but  an  agreement  on  the  part  of  Society  that  it 
will  give  to  the  holder,  on  demand,  ten  dollars' 
worth  of  its  labor  or  products  in  return.  Society 
stood  ready  and  willing  to  make  the  delivery  and 
redeem  its  obligations.  It  would  have  been  bet- 
ter for  Society  had  the  holder  presented  his  ten 
dollar  bill  for  redemption  at  once.     Choosing  to 


172  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

redeem  it  at  some  time  in  the  future  would  be 
suiting  his  own  convenience  and  his  own  pleasure 
and  not  Society's  convenience  or  pleasure.  On 
the  contrary,  Society  had  favored  him  by  not  de- 
manding that  he  immediately  present  his  bank 
note  for  redemption  in  goods  or  service. 

At  any  rate,  in  choosing  to  wait,  the  holder  was 
consulting  his  own  interests  and  not  the  interests 
of  Society.  But  instead  of  accepting  this  as  a 
favor,  he  proceeded  to  take  advantage  of  the 
situation.  He  put  his  ten  dollar  bill  out  at  inter- 
est and  in  ten  or  fifteen  years  it  doubled  in  volume. 
Then,  at  the  expiration  of  ten  or  fifteen  years,  he 
had  two  bills  in  his  possession,  one  representing 
his  original  ten  dollar  principal  and  the  other  the 
ten  dollars  collected  as  interest,  making  twenty 
dollars  in  all.  He  then  returned  to  Society  and 
demanded  twenty  dollars '  worth  of  their  products 
or  their  labor  where  he  originally  was  entitled  to 
only  ten  dollars  worth. 

And  that  is  how  interest  operated. 

All  fair  minded  people  have  come  to  see  that 
if  a  man  is  offered  his  pay,  and  finds  it  more 
convenient  to  wait  for  its  delivery  until  a  later 
date,  he  is  not  entitled  to  a  reward  for  waiting. 

$fa  ^  w  -Si*  W  *Jr  "S- 

The  first  order  by  government,  after  taking 
over  the  banks,  was  that  thereafter  all  interest 
would  be  illegal;  and  that  insofar  as  the  public 
was  concerned  money  would  be  used  not  as  a 
commodity,  but  merely  as  an  instrument  of 
transfer  of  commodities  or  service. 

This  meant  that  if  an  individual  (or  firm)  sold 
an  article  and  received  money  for  it,  that  money 
was  only  a  measure  of  the  amount  of  products  or 


THE    WORLD   IN   1931  173 

service  he  was  entitled  to  receive  in  return.  He 
could  redeem  it  at  once  (for  Society  stood  ready 
and  waiting  to  serve  him)  or  he  could  wait  his 
convenience,  but  if  he  waited  he  was  not  to  receive 
an  extra  reward  for  waiting  in  the  form  of  in- 
terest. 

In  taking  over  the  banks,  the  government  in- 
augurated a  very  comprehensive  scheme  for 
finance.  The  government  became  the  financiers  of 
the  country,  not  for  profit  but  for  service — at  cost. 

In  order  to  finance  properly  and  adequately, 
a  large  volume  of  currency  was  necessary — this 
volume  to  expand  and  contract  accordingly  as 
business  expanded  and  contracted. 

It  was  deemed  that  the  only  quality  this  cur- 
rency should  have  was  simply  to  facilitate  the 
transfer  of  products  and  at  the  same  time  be  re- 
deemable in  the  necessities  of  life — not  by  fiat, 
but  in  fact. 

In  the  beginning,  the  new  government  issued 
money  for  labor  performed,  redeemable  in  tax 
paying  power  and  also  in  wheat.  That  currency 
proved  even  more  popular  than  the  old  currency 
issued  on  gold. 

In  addition  to  this  labor  currency,  the  govern- 
ment issued  a  new  series,  redeemable  in  the  neces- 
sities of  life  and  based  on  unquestioned,  tangible 
securities,  thereby  making  all  currency  redeem- 
able in  products. 

To  carry  out  this  scheme  and  to  stabilize  cur- 
rency and  the  necessities  of  life,  the  government 
established  in  every  village,  town  and  city, 
throughout  the  country,  small  and  great  stores  to 
handle  all  living  necessities  and  even  some 
merchandise  bordering  on  luxuries.     These  gov- 


174  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

eminent  stores  operate  on  a  12  per  cent  margin 
of  profit.  Of  course,  this  profit  is  really  shared 
by  the  people  for,  besides  paying  government  ex- 
penses, it  eventually  comes  back  to  them  again  in 
the  payment  of  sick  dues  and  old  age  pensions. 

These  stores  serve  two  purposes.  They  guar- 
antee the  consumer  good  goods  on  a  small  margin 
of  profit  and  serve  as  public  storehouses  where 
government  money  may  be  redeemed.  You  will 
find  these  stores  so  equipped  and  stocked  that  a 
family  may  obtain  a  complete  supply  of  every- 
thing it  needs  for  all  its  real  wants,  without  going 
to  a  private  store. 

It  will  be  most  interesting  to  know  how  the 
new  plan  works  out  in  practice  and,  in  order  to 
make  it  clear,  I  will  have  to  go  into  some  detail. 

For  instance,  in  this  little  town  where  we  are 
now,  we  have  a  government  bank  and  a  govern- 
ment storehouse.  The  bank  started  a  few  days 
before  the  store  was  opened.  The  government 
store  began  accumulating  a  large  stock  of  mer- 
chandise. The  government  bank  placed  a  certain 
amount  of  money  to  the  credit  of  the  government 
store.  However,  the  store  manager  could  not 
draw  from  this  bank  account  until  he  had  an 
equivalent  value  in  goods  in  the  store,  nor  could 
the  manager  of  the  bank  permit  any  currency  to 
be  paid  out  until  he  knew  there  was  an  equivalent 
in  goods  or  products  in  the  store. 

The  money  put  in  circulation  under  these  con- 
ditions was  acceptable  to  the  people  for  the  reason 
that  it  could  be  used  to  pay  taxes,  that  it  was  by 
law  a  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  either  public  or 
private,  that  it  would  pay  for  postage  or  govern- 
ment transportation  and,  last  but  not  least,  it  was 


THE    WORLD    IN   1931  175 

redeemable  at  face  value  in  the  necessities  of  life 
at  these  government  stores. 

So  William  Smith,  a  farmer,  drives  up  to  the 
government  store  with  a  load  of  potatoes  and 
sells  these  potatoes  for  thirty  dollars.  He  is 
given  a  check  for  that  amount.  He  goes  to  the 
government  bank  and  receives  its  equivalent  in 
government  currency.  He  goes  back  to  the  gov- 
ernment store  and  exchanges  it  for  thirty  dollars' 
worth  of  merchandise  at  a  fair  price  and  goes 
home,  happy.  The  store  manager  deposits  the 
thirty  dollars  in  the  bank  the  next  morning.  The 
currency  is  replaced,  William  Smith  has  his  mer- 
chandise and  the  housewives  of  the  town  are  cook- 
ing William  Smith's  potatoes  for  breakfast. 

Take  another  example:  The  government  store 
manager  orders  two  thousand  dollars'  worth  of 
shoes  from  a  local  shoe  factory.  These  are  de- 
livered and  a  check  given.  The  check  is  presented 
at  the  local  government  bank  and  its  equivalent 
in  currency  credited  to  the  account  of  the  shoe 
concern.  One  thousand  dollars  is  drawn  out  to 
pay  wages  which  in  due  time  will  be  spent  locally 
by  the  wage  earner  and  eventually  will  come  back 
to  the  local  bank.  The  other  thousand  circulates 
through  a  somewhat  different  channel.  The  shoe 
company  buys  leather  in  Chicago,  giving  the 
leather  manufacturer  a  check  for  the  thousand 
dollars  worth  of  leather  delivered.  The  check  is 
presented  to  the  government  bank  in  Chicago  and 
its  equivalent  in  currency  credited  to  the  account 
of  the  leather  concern.  The  currency  used  in  this 
transaction,  however,  is  charged  against  our  local 
government  bank.  In  due  time,  the  local  shoe 
manufacturer  ships  a  thousand  dollars  worth  of 


176  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

shoes  to  Chicago  and  presents  its  receipt  there- 
for to  the  local  bank  which  credits  its  equivalent 
in  currency  to  the  shoe  manufacturer.  This  cur- 
rency is  charged  to  the  account  of  the  Chicago 
government  bank  and  all  obligations  between  the 
two  banks  are  thereby  cancelled. 

Thus,  it  will  be  seen,  all  parties  have  been 
served,  no  matter  where  located — whether  in  this 
little  town  of  ours  or  in  the  remotest  corner  of 
the  country,  without  the  aid  of  ' '  capital. ' ' 

"But,"  you  say,  "what  happens  if  some  of  the 
employees  of  the  shoe  factory  decide  to  save  a 
part  of  their  money  and  hold  it  out  of  circulation 
by  not  depositing  it  in  the  bank,  as  the  bank  does 
not  encourage  deposits  by  giving  interest?" 

In  that  case  nothing  of  importance  happens. 
This  is  only  a  case  of  deferred  payment.  Whether 
the  money  is  deposited  in  the  bank  or  held  per- 
sonally by  the  holder  of  the  money  in  question, 
the  goods  are  ready  for  the  holder  of  these  gov- 
ernment certificates  any  time  he  chooses  to  call 
for  them.  Nor  does  it  make  any  difference  if  he 
spends  his  money  in  a  private  store,  as  it  all  comes 
back  to  be  credited  to  the  private  storekeeper  who, 
by  the  way,  has  an  account  at  the  government 
bank,  all  other  banks  having  disappeared. 

Now,  before  passing  on,  I  desire  to  make  the 
question  of  "deposits"  quite  clear. 

I  told  you  that  the  banks  pay  no  interest,  nor 
do  they  solicit  any  deposits  as  banks  used  to  do 
under  the  old  system. 

With  the  new  order,  money  is  not  value — it  is 
not  a  commodity.  Its  value  ends,  if  it  has  any 
value,  when  it  serves  in  the  exchange  of  one  com- 
modity for  another,  or  one  service  for  another. 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  177 

When  our  local  shoe  manufacturer  gives  James 
Jones  a  fifty  dollar  government  bill  as  his  salary 
and  his  share  of  the  profits,  this  fifty  dollar  bill 
is  only  a  measure  of  the  value  of  James  Jones' 
earnings.  It  is  simply  a  due  bill  on  Society  (or  on 
the  government  store)  setting  forth  the  amount  he 
is  entitled  to  receive  in  exchange  for  his  labor.  He 
can  redeem  at  once  or  he  can  await  his  pleasure. 

Then  why  should  the  government  be  so  absurd 
as  to  pay  Jones  anything  extra  for  the  use  of  his 
certificate — his  money? 

In  fact,  instead  of  encouraging  Jones  to  save 
the  certificate,  by  paying  him  a  premium  in  the 
form  of  interest,  they  should  properly  penalize 
him  in  some  way  for  not  spending  it  or  redeem- 
ing it,  for  is  not  Society  ready  and  eager  to  re- 
deem his  certificate  in  other  labor  or  the  products 
of  other  labor? 

The  error  of  the  old  system  lay  in  the  fact 
that  the  saving  of  "money"  was  considered  an  act 
of  virtue  and,  in  addition,  that  it  added  wealth 
to  the  community. 

The  fact  is  that  when  the  banks  of  your  day 
had  the  most  money  on  deposit,  that  was  the  time 
when  there  was  the  least  real  wealth  in  the  coun- 
try—the least  goods  or  products,  as  exemplified 
in  1921.  These  deposits  or  savings  did  not  add 
one  cubit  of  stature  to  the  real  wealth  which  peo- 
ple could  appropriate  and  enjoy.  It  only  added 
"claims"  on  Society;  in  other  words,  promises 
to  pay  without  the  real  goods  to  pay  in. 

Of  course,  under  the  old  system,  savings  for 
the  future  were  necessary.  Private  provisions 
for  sickness,  unemployment  and  old  age  were  im- 
perative.   But    now,     savings,    except    for    im- 

12 


178  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

mediate  needs,  are  unnecessary.  If  a  wage  earner 
is  ill,  he  has  a  government  allowance;  there  is 
no  unemployment,  and  we  have  old  age  pensions. 

All  the  old  time  horror  of  the  future  is  dead. 
Society  does  its  perfect  work  today  and,  having 
done  that,  knows  that  the  future  will  take  care  of 
itself. 

The  government  sees  to  it  that  reasonable  sur- 
pluses are  carried  over  from  year  to  year  (food, 
etc.)  to  guard  against  shortage — and  that  is  all. 

Having  done  this,  and  having  seen  to  it  that 
there  is  a  just  distribution  of  wealth,  the  govern- 
ment or  the  people  have  no  further  concern  and 
the  future  will,  therefore,  take  care  of  itself. 

The  problem  from  now  on  is  comparatively 
easy.  Six  hours  work,  under  present  conditions, 
by  all  who  are  willing  and  able  to  work  produces 
all  the  necessities  of  life  and  many  of  the  luxuries 
for  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  country. 
This  includes  the  care  of  those  who,  through  sick- 
ness or  accident,  are  unable  to  work  and  those 
over  fifty-eight  years  of  age  who  receive  a  pen- 
sion. In  addition  to  this  a  healthy  surplus  of 
products  is  always  kept  in  reserve. 

Neither  the  government  nor  individuals  are 
compelled  to  lie  awake  nights  seeking  and  plan- 
ning for  new  markets.  Our  market  now  consists 
of  the  healthy  demand  of  all  our  people.  Our  sup- 
ply consists  of  the  production  of  six  hours  labor 
of  all  the  people,  with  a  fair  prospect  that  in  time 

this  will  be  reduced  to  five  hours. 

******* 

The  activities  of  the  government  banks  do  not 
end  with  the  financing  of  government  stores. 
Their  activities  are  both  broad  and  enlightening. 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  179 

They  extend  help  to  individuals  and  industries 
where  such  help  seems  necessary  for  the  common 
good. 

If  new  machinery  or  extensions  are  necessary, 
money  is  advanced  on  approved  security.  This 
accumulated  security  (or  community  wealth)  is 
made  the  basis  for  the  issuance  of  more  money — 
all  redeemable  as  heretofore  outlined.  The  new 
circulating  medium  is  never  extremely  voluminous 
for  the  reason  that  it  is  never  stagnated.  It  cir- 
culates freely,  while  performing  its  exchange 
function,  it  is  neither  an  asset  nor  a  liability  when 
in  the  hands  of  the  government  and  government 
banks.  In  the  hand  of  the  individual  it  is  simply 
a  due  bill  until  redeemed. 

There  is  one  thing  that  the  government,  at  the 
present  time,  sternly  and  consistently  refuses  to 
do.  It  never  will  advance  money  to  create  com- 
petitive enterprises  or  for  unnecessary  extensions. 
Where  an  existing  enterprise,  properly  financed, 
supplies  the  market,  it  is  made  to  serve  and  is 
encouraged — never  allowed  to  be  ruined  or  ham- 
pered by  unnecessary  competition.  If  unneces- 
sary competition  does  come  into  being,  it  is  not 
by  reason  of  government  sanction  or  government 
encouragement. 

The  government  bank  managers  are  constantly 
supplied  with  data  by  government  experts  and 
are  never  left  in  the  dark  regarding  local  or  na- 
tional conditions. 

In  the  battle  of  life  thinking  men  have  come 
to  realize  that  the  human  machine,  like  a  warring 
army,  must  have  organization  and  co-ordination. 

In  time  of  war,  the  state  does  not  leave  its  de- 
fenders to  their  own  initiative  and  resources,  but 


180  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

equips  them  with  every  known  implement  for  de- 
fense and  attack.  Any  other  policy  would  be  sui- 
cidal. 

But,  heretofore,  the  government's  activities 
stopped  there.  In  the  great  battle  of  life,  the 
struggle  for  existence  in  that  terrible  conflict  in 
which  human  beings  go  down  to  defeat  and  death 
in  greater  numbers  than  in  war,  the  government 
extended  no  helping  hand.  They  were  without 
thought,  without  plan  and  without  concern. 

But  now,  no  individual  or  necessary  industry 
is  allowed  to  languish  and  die  for  need  of  "fight- 
ing" tools  or  equipment. 

By  seeing  to  it  that  the  work  of  each  individual 
reaches  the  highest  point  of  productivity,  the 
highest  point  of  production  in  the  aggregate  is 
reached  and,  therefore,  the  shortest  hours  for 
labor  required. 

And  right  here  let  me  call  your  attention  to  how 
production  was  increased  by  the  proper  regulation 
and  reward  of  labor.  Under  the  old  order  labor 
was  in  the  main  dissatisfied  with  conditions  and 
was  constantly  on  the  move  to  better  itself.  The 
constant  loss  to  production,  from  this  cause  alone, 
was  enormous.  For  example,  in  1913  the  Ford 
Automobile  Company  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  hired 
52,445  men  and  50,448  left  the  company's  employ. 
The  average  length  of  time  that  each  man  worked 
was  but  three  months.  When  a  minimum  wage  of 
$5.00  a  day  was  established  only  3,000  men  left  the 
Ford  employ  in  a  year.  On  scientific  examination 
it  was  discovered  that  it  cost  the  company  $80.25 
for  the  change  of  each  employee,  or  a  loss  of 
$4,000,000.  The  minimum  wage  of  $5.00  a  day 
saved  the  Ford  Company  in  the  cost  of  exchange 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  181 

of  employees  millions  of  dollars — increased  the 
efficiency  of  the  workers  44  per  cent  and  reduced 
the  working  hours  20  per  cent. 

The  assistance  the  government  gives,  by  way 
of  money  loaned,  is  repaid  by  increased  produc- 
tion of  products  which  find  their  way  into  the 
government  and  private  stores.  Here  the  con- 
sumer redeems  the  very  currency  that  was  the 
means  of  turning  on  the  power  current  of  produc- 
tion. But  it  must  be  remembered  that  money 
alone  is  not  the  power.  It  is  but  the  key  that  un- 
locks the  latent  power  of  production — enables  it 
to  function  and  bring  forth  fruit. 

Under  the  new  order  this  key  was  wrested 
from  Capital;  and  justly  so.  Was  not  Capital 
guilty  of  many  crimes  other  than  the  laying  of 
the  toll  of  the  brigand  on  industry? 

Having  industry  in  its  grasp  Capital  always 
had  it  in  its  power  to  deny  labor  the  right  to  la- 
bor. It  held  the  magic  key  to  production.  At  the 
behest  of  one  man  this  key  could  be  turned  so 
that  a  whole  countryside  be  left  in  idleness  and 
want.  At  his  pleasure  these  slaves  were  again  at 
his  service. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  tell  you  that  the  govern- 
ment has  taken  over  the  railroads,  oil  wells  and 
all  public  utilities,  operating  them  for  the  benefit 
of  all. 

Government  employees  are  paid  wholly  in 
wages,  there  being  no  profit  in  these  purely  gov- 
ernment industries.  The  wage  paid  is  computed 
on  what  the  average  worker  would  obtain  in  other 
employment  requiring  equal  skill  and  hours.  In 
every  case,  the  minimum  wage  paid  is  sufficient 


182  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

to  cover  the  cost  of  proper  living.  This  is  equally 
true  in  all  industries — government  or  otherwise. 

We  have,  as  you  will  understand,  occupations 
in  which  disagreeable,  dirty  and  hazardous  work 
must  be  performed.  Naturally,  it  would  appear 
that  all  would  seek  to  avoid  this  class  of  work 
when  almost  equal  pay  is  received  for  all  kinds  of 
work.  This  difficulty  is  solved  by  regulating  the 
hours  of  employment. 

There  are  disagreeable  jobs  that  are  now  being 
done  on  the  basis  of  a  three-hour  day  and  some 
where  only  two  hours  is  required.  These  jobs 
are  open  to  all  alike  and  are  made  attractive  by 
shorter  hours,  not  more  pay. 

It  will  be  seen  that,  in  order  to  perform  all  the 
disagreeable  work  necessary,  owing  to  shorter 
hours  a  larger  number  of  workers  must  be  em- 
ployed to  perform  such  work.  This  depletes  the 
ranks  of  those  engaged  in  the  agreeable  jobs. 
Choosing  an  agreeable  job,  therefore,  requires 
longer  hours  to  fill  the  vacuum  caused  by  the 
exodus  of  labor  attracted  by  the  shorter  hours. 

The  reward  for  disagreeable,  undesirable  work 
is  not  extra  pay,  but  shorter  hours.  The  penalty 
for  choosing  agreeable  jobs  is  not  less  pay,  but 
longer  hours.    And  so  the  labor  machine  adjusts 

itself  to  the  needs  of  industry. 

******* 

Before  leaving  this  subject,  I  must  call  your 
attention  to  the  method  employed  to  bring  about 
closer  co-operation  between  farm  and  factory. 

The  farmer's  work  is  not  uniform  in  its  de- 
mands upon  labor.  He  has  his  very  busy  season 
and  then  for  months  he  is  almost  idle.  During 
this  extra  busy  season,  he  is  at  his  wit's  end  to 


THE    WORLD    IX    1931  183 

save  his  crops ;  during  the  idle  season,  how  to  em- 
ploy his  time. 

With  good  roads  everywhere,  universal  use  of 
the  automobile  and  cheap  oil  and  gasoline,  farm 
and  factory  are  brought  almost  together. 

During  the  winter  months,  the  government  has 
arranged  with  industrial  enterprises  to  use  the 
labor  of  the  farmer  and  the  farm  hand  and  in 
spring  and  summer  a  volunteer  contingent  is 
taken  from  the  factories  and  put  to  work  on  the 
farms. 

I  could  cite  many  instances  of  like  enlightened 
activity,  but  I  do  not  deem  it  necessary. 
******* 

The  government  concerns  itself  with  questions 
of  production,  distribution,  hours  of  labor,  educa- 
tion, amusements  and  recreations. 

Taxes  are  levied  to  meet  all  requirements. 
These  taxes  are  in  every  sense  direct. 

No  custom  duties  or  protective  tariffs  are  per- 
mitted. 

The  government  insists  that  the  measure  of 
America's  exports  shall  consist  of  an  equal 
amount  of  imports  from  abroad — products  for 
products,  not  money  for  products. 

When  an  American  ship  starts  out  (for  in- 
stance to  Liverpool)  laden  with  American  prod- 
ucts, that  ship  must  return  with  an  equal  quantity, 
by  value,  of  British  products.  In  this  exchange, 
they  demand  labor  for  labor,  products  for 
products.  They  demand  the  substance,  not  the 
shadow  expressed  in  terms  of  money  or  credit. 
******* 

Recapitulating  in  detail  the  outstanding  facts 
of  our  present  financial  system;  we  find  that 


184  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

(1)  The  government  issues  no  more  currency 
for  any  public  undertaking  than  it  expects  to  get 
back  in  payment  as  taxes. 

(2)  Government  banks  issue  no  more  money 
to  government  stores,  private  enterprises  or  in- 
dividuals than  they  receive  back  again,  dollar  for 
dollar. 

(3)  Government  stores  expend  no  money  for 
goods  or  products  that  they  do  not  get  back  dol- 
lar for  dollar  in  receipts,  plus  operating  ex- 
penses. 

(4)  Currency  put  in  circulation  by  the  govern- 
ment or  the  government  banks  not  only  performs 
the  direct  object  in  mind,  but  it  also  flows  through 
every  artery  and  channel  of  trade,  government 
or  otherwise,  exchanging  labor  for  labor  and 
products  for  products,  before  returning  to  the 
source  of  its  issue. 

(5)  Goods  and  products  in  government  stores 
serve  as  stabilizers  for  currency  by  constantly  re- 
deeming this  currency,  not  in  useless  gold,  but  in 
the  every  day  necessities  of  life.  This  redemp- 
tion is  never  excessive — never  exceeds  the  normal 
wants  of  the  people.  There  is  never  a  "run"  on 
the  government  stores  to  redeem  currency  in 
goods  or  products,  lest  the  government  "fail." 

(6)  Currency  of  this  character  meets  all  the 
requirements  of  the  people  for  exchange,  and  for 
every  business  need  and  activity  of  life,  without 
paying  tribute  to  some  master.  The  only  master 
to  be  served  is  the  people  themselves,  as  exempli- 
fied in  their  government. 

The  basis  for  currency  is  community  wealth, 
natural  resources  plus  labor,  expressed  in  terms 
of  necessary  products. 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  185 

In  this  way,  private  capital  and  capitalism  has 
been  thrown  into  the  discard,  along  with  the  spin- 
ning-wheel of  our  great,  great-grandmothers,  and 

the  spark-flint  of  our  great,  great-grandfathers. 

******* 

You  will  readily  understand  that  the  revenue  of 
the  country  must  be  large,  owing  to  old  age 
pensions,  etc.,  but  it  is  easily  met. 

For  instance,  the  government  builds  and  con- 
trols all  the  roads  throughout  the  country.  Their 
expenditures  are  met  by  a  direct  tax  on  all  auto- 
mobiles and  trucks,  payable  according  to  the  num- 
ber of  miles  traveled.  A  graduated  land  tax  is 
in  operation,  representing  the  value  of  the  privi- 
lege enjoyed.  This  tax  is  at  present  the  largest 
source  of  revenue  for  the  government. 

This  land  tax,  owing  to  its  penalty,  in  the  case 
of  large  acreage,  has  a  tendency  of  reducing  the 
number  of  acres  cultivated  by  one  individual  and 
creating  a  larger  number  of  farms,  each,  of  course, 
having  a  smaller  number  of  acres.  The  result  of 
this  has  been  increased  production,  due  to  better 
cultivation.  In  many  cases  it  has  been  found, 
that  due  to  this  one  cause  alone,  double  the 
volume  of  production  has  resulted — one  acre 
properly  cultivated,  often  producing  as  much  as 
two  acres  previously. 

Denmark  had  given  the  American  farmer  a 
scientific  lesson.  On  vastly  inferior  soil,  Den- 
mark exported  annually,  nearly  twenty  dollars 
for  each  acre  of  her  land,  in  addition  to  the 
amount  she  consumed  herself. 

The  evil  of  farm  tenantcy  was  also  in  addition, 
done  away  with.  This  was  accomplished  by  pass- 
ing a  law  that  no  one  could  control,  much  less 


186  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

own,  land  that  he  did  not  personally  use  or  culti- 
vate. 

No  tax  is  placed  on  houses  or  other  building 
whatsoever,  simply  on  the  land. 

When  the  new  order  came  into  effect,  no  houses 
or  their  contents  were  taken  over  by  the  govern- 
ment, but  remained  with  their  occupants. 

Under  the  new  law,  these  houses  and  their  con- 
tents may  be  willed  to  a  member  or  members  of 
an  immediate  family,  such  as  wife,  sons  and 
daughters.  Where  no  immediate  relations  exist, 
or  where  none  can  make  use  of  it,  the  house  re- 
verts to  the  state. 

Except  to  a  limited  extent,  inheritances  are  not 
allowed  and  then  only  in  the  case  of  dependents. 

Inheritances  are  not  necessary  in  the  new  order. 

Sensible  people  would  rather  entrust  the  future 
of  their  children  in  the  keeping  of  a  Society  that 
guarantees  a  good  living  to  all  who  work  and,  in 
case  of  sickness  or  accident,  provides  an  allowance 
or  old  age  pension,  than  to  trust  them  to  a  So- 
ciety that  is  wolfish  in  its  nature — in  which  a 
fortune  might  be  stolen  or  dissipated,  leaving  the 
beneficiary  helpless  and  in  want. 

The  new  order  exploded  many  old  theories.  It 
soon  became  evident  that  products — the  neces- 
sities of  life — were  all  that  the  people  desired  as 
a  basis  for  a  circulating  medium. 

They  had  a  recent  example  that  large  quantities 
of  gold  added  nothing  to  human  happiness. 

The  year  before  the  new  order  came  in,  we  had 
in  this  country,  the  stupendous  amount  of  five 
thousand  million  dollars  in  gold  piled  in  the  vaults 
of  our  treasury  and  yet,  insofar  as  industry  was 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  187 

concerned  and  so  far  as  the  ten  millions  of  un- 
employed were  concerned,  this  gold  might  just 
as  well  have  been  at  the  bottom  of  the  Dead  Sea. 

Even  with  all  this  gold,  if  every  bank  note 
holder,  bond  holder,  and  bank  depositor  had 
wished  to  convert  his  holdings  into  gold,  he  could 
not  have  gotten  ten  cents  on  the  dollar  in  that 
metal. 

The  whole  thing  was  a  huge  fraud  and  only  had 
to  be  analyzed  and  dissected  to  understand  its 
fraudulent  character. 

Another  error  dispelled  was  the  contention 
that,  in  order  to  have  full  production,  some  labor 
must  be  rewarded  far  beyond  that  of  others. 
Where  that  proved  true  in  an  isolated  case,  the 
very  opposite  obtained  in  the  majority  of  cases 
for  the  majority  were  benefited  by  the  change  and, 
therefore,  responded  with  increased  production. 

This  increased  production  is  attributable  to 
many  things,  one  of  the  important  being  absence 
of  strikes. 

You  will  readily  understand  that  under  our  new 
order  we  have  no  strikes  with  their  attendant  loss 
to  Society. 

That  weapon  is  of  no  further  use ;  indeed,  if  it 
ever  was  of  use. 

It  was  at  best,  both  a  blind  and  a  stupid  way 
of  attaining  desired  ends.  Samson-like,  labor 
often  tore  away  the  pillars  that  held  the  structure 
over  their  own  heads  and  they  themselves,  were 
crushed  in  the  ruins. 

Under  the  old  system,  the  workers,  in  order  to 
bring  their  employers  to  terms,  refused  to  work; 
that  is  to  say,  they  cut  off  their  own  means  of 
subsistence,  in  order  to  force  their  employers  to 


188  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

terms  by  attempting  to  cut  off  their  employers' 
means  of  subsistence.  That  procedure  did  not 
show  that  labor  displayed  even  common  sense,  let 
alone  intelligence  of  a  high  order ;  for  what  prog- 
ress can  be  made,  if  you,  in  your  efforts,  injure 
yourself  more  than  you  do  your  adversary!  La- 
bor lived  from  hand  to  mouth,  and  capital  from 
an  immense  reservoir  of  wealth.  A  few  weeks  of 
strike,  invariably  brought  labor  to  the  verge  of 
starvation,  and  usually  gave  capital  a  holiday  on 
a  full  stomach. 

In  fact,  a  strike  often  worked  to  the  benefit 
of  capital.  The  factory  frequently  used  the  idle 
period  to  make  necessary  general  repairs  to  ma- 
chinery; or  to  get  rid  of  surplus  goods  so  that 
the  new  stock  could  be  sold  at  higher  prices. 

In  addition,  the  unemployed  class  served  capital 
well  at  such  a  juncture  as  this,  in  that  it  con- 
stituted capital's  reserve  army;  which  it  could 
call  upon  at  any  time  to  crush  strikes,  or  replace 
labor  that  did  not  act  in  the  way  that  capital  de- 
sired. 

The  unemployed  were  usually  camp  followers 
of  industry,  compelled  by  circumstances — even  for 
a  loaf  of  bread — to  help  cut  the  throats  of  their 
own  brother  workers,  and  that  all  for  the  benefit 
of  an  enemy  class. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  strike  was  a  very  doubt- 
ful weapon  for  labor's  good;  but  whether  useful 
or  not,  for  attaining  labor's  ends,  it  is  not  now 
necessary. 

But,  in  this  connection,  it  must  never  be  forgot- 
ten, that  capital's  well-being  and  security  could 
only  exist  so  long  as  a  measure  of  unemployment 
existed. 


THE    WORLD    IN    1931  189 

A  margin  of  unemployment  was  always  neces- 
sary to  keep  labor  in  check.  Were  all  employed, 
or  if  there  were  more  jobs  than  men  to  fill  them, 
then  one  capitalistic  employer  had  to  compete  with 
another  capitalistic  employer,  for  labor,  and  the 
price  of  labor  would  go  soaring;  and  in  order  to 
counteract  this,  Capital  had  to  raise  the  price  of 
its  products  in  order  to  keep  ahead  of  labor's  de- 
mands. In  other  words,  we  would  witness  a  race 
between  the  price  of  labor  and  the  price  of  prod- 
ucts, with  products  always  in  the  lead. 

But  in  this  sort  of  a  race,  although  Capital 
might  appear  to  be  in  the  lead,  yet  they  were  con- 
stantly in  great  danger.  Their  danger  lay  in  the 
fact  that  with  the  excess  of  the  rise  in  the  price 
of  things,  the  purchasing  power  of  the  dollar  de- 
creased, and  the  result  would  be  that  when  prices 
had  doubled,  the  millionaire  had  really  lost  half 
a  million,  for  the  reason  that  the  purchasing 
power  of  his  million,  was  cut  in  two. 

It  will  be  seen,  that  if  such  a  race  as  this  con- 
tinued, there  would  be  a  point  reached  when  owing 
to  the  high  cost  of  labor  and  products,  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  the  dollar,  would  be  practically 
wiped  out;  and  therefore  the  millionaire,  in 
money,  would  be  reduced  to  a  pauper. 

Allow  me  to  put  this  in  another  way.  W^ere 
Capital  compelled  to  go  from  door  to  door,  in 
quest  of  labor  to  run  their  factories,  as  labor  now 
goes  from  shop  to  shop  to  get  work,  the  price  of 
labor  would  go  so  high  and  the  price  of  products 
would  go  so  high,  that  all  bonds,  securities,  and 
money,  would  reach  a  point  that  they  would 
scarcely  be  worth  the  paper  they  were  written  on ; 
and  as  Capital  possesses  these  things  in  abun- 


190  THE    WORLD    IN    1931 

dance,  and  labor  only  possesses  a  small  portion  of 
these,  the  loss  would  accrue  to  Capital — not  to 
labor. 

It  will,  therefore,  be  seen  that  the  perpetuation 
of  Capitalism  depended  on  having  a  generous 
measure  of  unemployment  at  all  times.  In  other 
words,  in  order  that  Capitalism  should  remain  in 
existence,  thousands  of  men,  women  and  children, 
had  to  be  in  a  perpetual  state  of  hunger.  That, 
you  will  admit,  was  a  very  high  price  to  pay  for 
the  luxury  of  Capital. 

In  order  to  avoid  all  these  evils — co-operation, 
not  competition,  dominates  our  new  system. 

And  so  I  have  given  you  a  fairly  complete  out- 
line of  the  new  order — all  brought  about  by  these 
fifty  men,  with  the  generous  and  loyal  co-opera- 
tion of  all  the  people. 

Their  last  important  work  was  to  recommend 
some  structural  changes  in  our  form  of  govern- 
ment. 

These  changes  were  for  the  purpose  of  making 
a  democracy  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name. 

They  proposed  (subject  to  the  will  and  the  en- 
dorsement of  the  people)  that  the  Constitution 
should  no  longer  exist,  that  the  Supreme  Court 
and  Senate  be  done  away  with  and  that  only  the 
House  of  Representatives  and  the  President  re- 
main. 

They  recommended  that  the  Representatives  be 
elected  for  four  years  and  the  President  for 
eight — the  President  to  have  no  veto  power, 
serving  only  as  an  executive  officer. 

As  a  check  on  Congress,  if  5  per  cent  of  the 
people  of  the  country  objected  to  any  law  that 


THE    WORLD   IN   1931  191 

Congress  had  passed,  they  could  on  demand  ask 
that  such  a  law  be  passed  on  by  the  voters — not 
all  the  voters,  but  certain  sections  throughout  the 
country — in  the  following  manner: 

In  order  to.  do  away  with  the  cumbersome  ma- 
chinery of  a  total  vote  of  the  people  and  yet  get 
an  expression  of  the  will  of  the  people,  it  was 
arranged  that  the  measure  to  be  considered  be 
voted  on  by  one  county  in  each  state  of  the  Union. 
These  counties  are  drawn  by  lot  and  when  they 
vote  and  give  their  decision,  it  is  considered  that 
they  have  registered  the  sentiment  and  judgment 
of  the  whole  country. 

In  this  way,  our  Representatives  are  truly  our 
servants — not,  as  formerly,  our  masters. 

We  have  just  had  an  election  and  all  these 
recommendations  were  endorsed  by  the  people, 
including  the  great  work  that  had  previously  been 
performed. 

The  Committee  of  Fifty  has  retired  to  private 
life.  Congress  makes  the  laws  and  carries  out  the 
splendid  work  that  these  men  began. 

Thus,  the  old  political  state,  with  its  grafting, 
log-rolling,  lawyer  and  big-business  domination 
has  passed  away  and  the  economic  state  has  taken 
its  place — a  state  in  which  wealth  is  increased  by 
scientific  methods  for  the  equal  good  of  each  unit 
and  for  the  comfort  and  cultural  life  of  all. 

In  other  words,  the  state  under  the  new  order,  is 
but  an  agency  to  promote  the  well-being  of  all  its 
citizens. 

My  friends,  tomorrow  will  be  the  greatest  day 
of  all  your  lives.  Your  eyes  will  behold  a  new 
nation  and  a  new  people.  On  every  hand  you  will 
see  happy,  smiling  faces.     Nowhere  will  you  find 


192  THE    WORLD    IN   1931 

opulent  and  insolent  wealth ;  nor  will  you  see  the 
emaciated,  pinched  and  dejected  faces  of  poverty. 
Justice  and  humanity  have  supplanted  fear  and 
power. 

^t  ji.  ^,  4  *  j|.  jj. 

It  was  not  until  the  Professor  had  finished  that 
we  discovered  the  night  had  almost  passed  and 
the  day  was  breaking.  Already  the  Eastern  sky 
was  filled  with  the  gray  winged  messengers  of  the 
morning. 

In  reverent  silence,  we  turned  our  eyes  toward 
the  East.  Almost  immediately  a  tiny  linnet  flew 
from  its  airy  bed  and  on  a  nearby  twig  began 
warbling  the  first  welcome  to  the  morning.  One 
by  one  the  feathered  tribe,  from  shrub  and  tree 
and  hedge,  joined  in  the  chorus,  which  rose  and 
fell  like  sweet  strains  from  the  Spirit  World. 

Silently,  out  of  the  cover  of  darkness,  the 
nearby  gardens  burst  forth  in  flower,  each  tendril 
glistening  with  the  early  dew. 

On  came  the  morning  clad  in  her  rosy  robes, 
tripping  gently  on  clouds  of  gray  and  purple  and 
of  gold ;  with  fragrance  in  her  breath  and  gladness 
in  her  eyes,  heralding  the  Coming  Day. 

As  the  morning  swept  on,  from  behind  the 
Sierras  rose  in  majesty  the  sun. 

With  eyes  ablaze  and  outstretched  arms,  the 
Professor  exclaimed:  "A  New  Day  is  Born!" 

But  to  us,  with  hearts  overflowing,  it  was  both  a 
New  World  and  a  New  Day ! 

THE   END 


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